Abstract

Objective

The aim of this study was to: (1) determine the proportion of callers to a national helpline for suicide prevention who were evaluated to be at risk of suicide; (2) identify characteristics associated with being at risk; (3) determine the level of suicidal ideation among callers, as measured by a clinical scale, and compared to the general population.

Method

Data on all calls answered at the Danish helpline for suicide prevention during 2018–2019 were analyzed. These consisted of socio-demographic covariates and items related to suicidality, including the Suicidal Ideation Attribute Scale (SIDAS). Data on SIDAS for the general population derived from a survey. Being at risk of suicide, as evaluated by the counselors, was examined as outcome in adjusted logistic regressions.

Results

Among 42,393 answered calls, 24,933 (59%) related to personal concerns. Of these, 47% and 14% of callers, respectively, had suicidal thoughts and concrete suicidal plans, while 53% were evaluated to be at risk. Higher risks were found when issues related to self-harm, mental health problems, eating disorders, incest, physical health problems, substance abuse, or sexual assault were mentioned. In all 37% of callers who were administered the SIDAS scale were evaluated to be at high risk of suicide compared to 1.5% in the general population.

Conclusions

A substantial share of callers to a national helpline for suicide prevention were evaluated to be at risk of suicide, also when using a clinical scale. This emphasizes the potential for counselors to prevent suicidal behavior.

• Highlights

• More than half of callers reaching out to the helpline were evaluated to be at risk of suicide, and 37% were identified as being at high risk using SIDAS, a clinical scale.

• Being woman, of younger age, having a history of previous suicide attempt as well as experiencing problems related to self-harm, mental disorders, sexual assault, substance abuse, and physical health problems was associated with risk of suicide, as evaluated by counselors.

• This seemingly is the first study to compare clinical scores of helpline callers to those of the general population and significantly higher levels of suicidal ideation were found among helpline callers.

中文翻译：

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丹麦自杀预防热线拨打者的自杀意念水平

摘要

客观的

本研究的目的是：（1）确定国家自杀预防热线的呼叫者中被评估为有自杀风险的比例；(2) 识别与面临风险相关的特征；(3) 通过临床量表测量并与一般人群进行比较，确定呼叫者的自杀意念水平。

方法

对 2018 年至 2019 年期间丹麦自杀预防热线接听的所有电话数据进行了分析。这些由社会人口统计协变量和与自杀相关的项目组成，包括自杀意念属性量表（SIDAS）。普通人群的 SIDAS 数据来自一项调查。由咨询师评估的自杀风险被作为调整逻辑回归的结果进行检查。

结果

在 42,393 个已接听电话中，24,933 个（59%）与个人问题有关。其中，分别有 47% 和 14% 的来电者有自杀念头和具体的自杀计划，而 53% 的人被评估为有自杀风险。当提到与自残、心理健康问题、饮食失调、乱伦、身体健康问题、药物滥用或性侵犯有关的问题时，发现的风险更高。在接受 SIDAS 量表的所有来电者中，有 37% 的人被评估为自杀风险较高，而普通人群中这一比例为 1.5%。

结论

在使用临床量表时，相当一部分拨打全国自杀预防热线的人被评估为有自杀风险。这强调了咨询师预防自杀行为的潜力。

• 强调

• 超过一半拨打求助热线的呼叫者被评估为有自杀风险，并且使用临床量表 SIDAS 确定 37% 的人有自杀风险。

• 根据咨询师的评估，女性、年龄较小、有自杀企图史以及经历与自残、精神障碍、性侵犯、药物滥用和身体健康问题相关的问题与自杀风险相关。

• 这似乎是第一项将求助热线求助者的临床评分与普通人群的临床评分进行比较的研究，发现求助热线求助者的自杀意念水平明显更高。