Related Experiment Videos
Responding to suicidal calls: does trait anxiety hinder or help?
Marceline Moulin Brown1, Lillian M Range
1University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, Mississippi, USA.
Death Studies
|April 9, 2005
Summary
Trait anxiety does not hinder crisis call response and may improve it. Higher scores on the Suicide Intervention Response Inventory (SIRI-2) were linked to trait anxiety and specific demographic and experiential factors.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Clinical Psychology
- Suicidology
Background:
- Trait anxiety and personal history of suicidality are potential factors influencing crisis intervention effectiveness.
- Understanding these factors is crucial for improving responses to suicidal individuals.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the impact of trait anxiety and suicidality on the ability to respond to suicidal crisis calls.
- To identify factors associated with expert-level performance in suicide intervention.
Main Methods:
- 279 undergraduates completed measures of trait anxiety, recent suicidality, and the Suicide Intervention Response Inventory (SIRI-2).
- Correlational analyses were used to examine relationships between variables.
Main Results:
- Trait anxiety positively correlated with better SIRI-2 scores, suggesting it may enhance crisis response.
- Factors associated with higher SIRI-2 scores included being European-American, older age, prior crisis intervention training, psychotherapy experience, and a personal history of suicidality.
Conclusions:
- Trait anxiety does not impede, and may even facilitate, effective response to suicidal crisis calls.
- Demographic and experiential factors play a significant role in the competence of suicide intervention responders.