Comprehensive psychometric examination of the attitudes towards suicide (ATTS) in South Korea

Abstract

BackgroundThe aim of this study is to examine the validity and reliability of the Korean version of attitudes towards suicide (ATTS) on a group of university students, which would contribute to the evaluation of the ATTS as a useful tool of measuring attitudes toward suicide in South Korea with very high suicide rates.MethodsThe subjects of the study were 195 undergraduates at Chung-Ang University, South Korea in 2013. The measure for assessing public attitudes towards suicide was ATTS made up of 34 items in English and the Korean version of it was produced by forward and backward translation procedure. To identify any factors unique to South Koreans’ attitudes towards suicide, we applied exploratory factor analysis (EFA) to the data from 195 university students and was followed by confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to assess construct validity of the Korean version. The internal consistency of the scale was assessed using Cronbach’s α and the assessment of the test–retest reliability was performed by intraclass correlation coefficients.ResultsOn the EFA analysis, were excluded, the tool had 11 factors (32 items), accounting for 62.99 % of the total variance in participants’ responses. CFA failed to support 11-factor model of the scale. Six out of 11 factors were acceptable in terms of both internal consistency and test–retest reliability.ConclusionsSix factors of the Korean version of the ATTS had acceptable content validity and reliability. However, on the whole, it did not have good construct validity and thus further investigations are needed to develop a scale measuring true public attitudes toward suicide in South Korea.

Psychometric evaluation of the Questionnaire on Attitudes Towards Suicide (ATTS) in Poland

“…The proposed five-factor model of the ATTS is unique because of including only theoretically sound items. For that reason, the examined model incorporating 18 items is not consistent with previous studies (Hjelmeland et al 2008;Ji et al 2016;Sallander Renberg 2001;Sallander Renberg and Jacobsson 2003;. This could have been also affected by differences between values and suicide perception across cultures.…”

“…The Questionnaire on Attitudes Towards Suicide (ATTS), Suicide Opinion Questionnaire (SOQ) and Suicide Attitude Questionnaire (SUIATT) are all widely-recognized instruments for determining attitudes towards suicide (Diekstra and Kerkhof 1989;Ji et al 2016;Kodaka et al 2011;Sallander Renberg and Jacobsson 2003). They all offer an expert consensus on scale formulation, multidimensionality, a unified rating method and appropriateness for diverse study groups.…”

“…In addition, the stability of the ATTS factors remains unclear, with factor analyses conducted in three different studies (data from Ghana, Uganda, Norway, Korea, United States) indicating dissimilarities in ATTS factor structure (Hjelmeland et al 2008;Ji et al 2016;. The choice of factor analysis can also play a role.…”

“…The choice of factor analysis can also play a role. A Korean study aimed at identifying a culturally-unique factor structure identified an 11-factor solution which was found to be valid with the use of EFA but not CFA (Ji et al 2016).…”

“…The aim of the study was to develop a revised version of the ATTS and examine its psychometric properties in the Polish community of students in the helping professions. The revised ATTS was expected to face some major limitations outlined in previous studies (Hjelmeland et al 2008;Ji et al 2016;Sallander Renberg and Jacobsson 2003;. First, the original 10-factor model (Sallander Renberg and Jacobsson 2003) was evaluated for its reproducibility.…”