AAS Risk Assessment & Screening Tools 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: The Reasons for Living Inventory (RFL) assesses which dimension of suicide risk?
- Lethality of past attempts
- Protective cognitions that buffer against suicidal behavior (Correct answer)
- Frequency of suicidal ideation
- Physiological arousal during crisis
Correct answer: Protective cognitions that buffer against suicidal behavior
The RFL measures beliefs and expectations that deter suicidal behavior, functioning as a protective factor assessment rather than a risk measure.
Question 2: When using the Beck Hopelessness Scale (BHS), a score of 9 or above is associated with:
- Minimal risk
- Mild hopelessness only
- Significantly elevated long-term suicide risk (Correct answer)
- Certain imminent suicidal behavior
Correct answer: Significantly elevated long-term suicide risk
Beck's research found BHS scores ≥9 predicted eventual suicide in clinical samples, indicating significantly elevated long-term risk.
Question 3: Which component of a suicide risk assessment specifically evaluates the potential lethality of a plan?
- Precipitating stressors
- Access to and knowledge of means (Correct answer)
- Intensity of passive ideation
- Previous psychiatric hospitalizations
Correct answer: Access to and knowledge of means
Assessing means access and knowledge directly informs how lethal the envisioned plan could be if acted upon.
Question 4: The Collaborative Assessment and Management of Suicidality (CAMS) framework uses the Suicide Status Form (SSF) to:
- Assign a DSM diagnosis to suicidal patients
- Co-create a crisis plan collaboratively with the patient (Correct answer)
- Determine insurance eligibility for inpatient care
- Conduct psychological autopsy after a death
Correct answer: Co-create a crisis plan collaboratively with the patient
CAMS and the SSF engage the patient as a collaborator in identifying their own suicidal drivers and building a targeted treatment plan.
Question 5: A clinician notes that a patient's suicidal ideation is ego-syntonic. This means:
- The patient finds the ideation distressing and unwanted
- The patient views the ideation as consistent with their goals and values (Correct answer)
- The ideation is brief and transient
- The ideation only occurs during sleep
Correct answer: The patient views the ideation as consistent with their goals and values
Ego-syntonic ideation is experienced as congruent with the self, which generally indicates higher risk than ego-dystonic (distressing) ideation.
Question 6: Which of the following best describes the purpose of a 'means restriction counseling' component in a safety plan?
- To teach coping skills for managing emotional pain
- To reduce lethal means access during a suicidal crisis (Correct answer)
- To identify social supports the patient can contact
- To schedule follow-up appointments
Correct answer: To reduce lethal means access during a suicidal crisis
Means restriction counseling addresses the environment by reducing access to lethal methods, creating time and distance between impulse and action.
Question 7: The Linehan Risk Assessment and Management Protocol (LRAMP) is most closely associated with which therapeutic approach?
- Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT)
- Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) (Correct answer)
- Prolonged Exposure (PE)
- Motivational Interviewing (MI)
Correct answer: Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
LRAMP was developed within the DBT framework to provide structured suicide risk assessment for clinicians treating chronically suicidal patients.
AAS Risk Assessment & Screening Tools 3
The Reasons for Living Inventory (RFL) assesses which dimension of suicide risk?