Perceived clinical utility of the suicide crisis syndrome: A multisite pilot study

Perceived usefulness in the clinical setting is important in the implementation of novel constructs and assessments. The suicide crisis syndrome (SCS) has been proposed and validated as a theoretical framework for assessing acute suicide risk, but clinicians' perceptions of the SCS have not yet been examined. In this study, we evaluated perceived utility of the SCS across several provider locations to assess its perceived value as a clinical tool. A sample of 47 practitioners across three sites who had received education about, but no implementation of, the SCS, and a separate sample of 52 practitioners at a site that had systematically implemented the SCS, completed a survey assessing its feasibility, appropriateness, acceptability, incremental helpfulness, and overall clinical utility. In both samples, clinicians reported favorable ratings for feasibility, appropriateness, acceptability, incremental helpfulness, and overall clinical utility. In Sample 1, clinicians with previous experience using the SCS reported significantly higher ratings for all categories except incremental helpfulness than those without prior SCS use. In Sample 2, there were no significant differences in ratings between participants with or without prior use of SCS. Comparison of the two samples found no significant differences in all categories except acceptability, as those in Sample 2 showed significantly higher ratings. Regardless of implementation, clinicians reported generally favorable perceptions of the SCS, and those from the implementation sample reported significantly higher acceptability of its use. This suggests that clinicians may be supportive of the use and implementation of the SCS in clinical settings. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).