The Measurement of Suicide Assessment and the Development of a Treatment Strategy for Elders: Durkheim an Approach

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to develop and validate Durkheim Suicide Assessment (DSA).The DSA was designed to measure suicide risk among older adults. Despite a major influence of Durkheim' theory in understanding suicide, little effort has been made to apply such theory in gerontological practice. Data were drawn from a survey of 380 older adults over the age of 65. Principal component analysis was conducted with the 80 items of the original DSA, which yielded the 26 items of the DSA. Furthermore we performed explore factor analyses to assess the factor structures of the DSA. Internal consistency reliability was examined using Cronbach's alpha. The results show that the DSA is a psychometrically sound measurement. Health care professionals can use the DSA to assess suicide potential and develop an effective treatment strategy based on the type of suicide in which the elder has the highest probability of pursuing.