Psychometric properties of the 7‐item version of the Concise Health Risk Tracking Self‐Report Scale for rural adults enrolled in an Internet‐delivered self‐help program for depression

Abstract

Purpose: Monitoring suicide risk in clinical practice requires valid and reliable assessment instruments. This study evaluated the psychometric properties of the 7-item version of the Concise Health Risk Tracking Self-Report, CHRT-SR 7 in a primarily rural population. Methods: The sample comprised 788 participants (81.7% female) of an effectiveness trial of an internet-based self-help intervention for depression. Participants completed self-report questionnaires, including the CHRT-SR 7 , Patient Health Questionnaire-9, Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7, Work and Social Adjustment Scale, Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale-10, and Barriers to Seeking Mental Health Care. Four-week testretest reliability was calculated for a subsample of 147 participants randomized to a waitlist control group. Findings:The CHRT-SR 7 internal consistency was α = 0.80 (total sample), α = 0.80 (women), and α = 0.83 (men). The 4-week test-retest reliability was strong for women (r = 0.78) and moderate for men (r = 0.66). Confirmatory factor analysis supported the original 3-factor solution: Hopelessness (2 items), Perceived Lack of Social Support (2 items), and Current Suicidal Thoughts and Plans (3 items), which was invariant across gender and rural status. Convergent and divergent validity was supported as reflected in significant correlations of the CHRT-SR 7 and its subscales with measures of depression, anxiety, adjustment, and resilience. Limitations include the limited demographic diversity (mostly non-Hispanic White women) and reliance on self-report data. Conclusions:Our findings complement those reported in prior studies of patients with severe depression and support the use of the CHRT-SR 7 for measuring suicide risk in rural adults; future studies should further test the instrument's psychometric properties in racial or ethnic minority rural residents.

The Concise Health Risk Tracking ‐ Self‐Report (CHRT‐SR)—A measure of suicidal risk: Performance in adolescent outpatients

“…To date, however, all studies related to the study of psychometric properties and performance of this instrument have relied primarily on clinical trial samples and have nearly always focused on adults. For example, the CHRT‐SR has been studied in several samples with major depressive disorder (MDD (De La Garza et al., 2018 ; Trivedi et al., 2011 ; Trombello et al., 2019 ; Villegas et al., 2018 ; Weissman et al., 2021 ), bipolar disorder (Ostacher et al., 2015 ; Reilly‐Harrington et al., 2016 ; Villegas et al., 2018 ), and simulant use disorder (Sanchez et al., 2018 ). Only one study to date has assessed the performance of the CHRT‐SR in adolescents, and the sample only included high‐risk youth who had made a recent suicide attempt or had high suicidal ideation (Mayes et al., 2018 ).…”