Background: Dually diagnosed and elderly widowed persons have an elevated risk for suicide. Existing scales prove insensitive to the detection of their suicidality. We will present data on a newly developed instrument– the Yale Evaluation of Elderly Suicidality Scale (YEESS)-- and compare YEESS scores between dually diagnosed and elderly widowed subjects. Method: Recently widowed elderly persons residing in the community and dually diagnosed receiving treatment at the Connecticut Mental Health Center and the West Haven Veterans Affairs Connecticut Healthcare System are participants in an ongoing suicide study. Data on recent and past life events, quality of life, chronic conditions, social support, health service utilisation, addictions, psychiatric evaluation and Inventory of Traumatic Grief are obtained. To date, 104 subjects (60 widowed, 44 dually diagnosed) have been interviewed. Preliminary analyses indicate that the YEESS has a high degree of internal consistency (alpha=.95), was closely associated with Major Depressive Disorder (r=.78, p=.0002), and Traumatic Grief (r=.85, p=.001) – suggesting convergent validity. With respect to criterion validity, the Reasons for Dying, YEESS subscale (Cronbach’s alpha=.94) best predicted future suicide attempts (r=.76, p=.002). YEESS’ psychometrics and subscale intercorrelations will be examined. ANCOVA models will compare groups on mean YEESS scores. Regression models will simultaneously estimate the effects of multiple risk factors in the prediction of YEESS scores. Conclusions: Results will demonstrate the performance of YEESS as a suicidality screening tool and examine differences in suicidality between dually diagnosed and widowed persons. Risk factors of elevated suicidality will also be investigated.
Learning Objectives: develop familiarity with Yale Evaluation of Elderly Suicidality Scale (YEESS) and identify risk factors for suicidaility in dually diagnosed and widowed subjects
Keywords: Suicide, Elderly
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.