Reliabilities, Validities, and Cutoff Scores of the Depression Hopelessness Suicide Screening Form Among Women Offenders

Abstract

Depression and hopelessness can be associated with negative outcomes among offenders, such as reduced treatment impact, institutional misconduct, suicide risk, and health care costs. This study evaluated the reliability and validity of the Depression Hopelessness Suicide Screening Form (DHS) among women offenders. The DHS Depression and Hopelessness scales showed good internal consistency and test-retest reliability. Convergent and discriminant validities were supported through the relationship of the DHS with other established scales of depression, mood, suicidal intentions, and psychological distress. Optimal and conservative cutoff scores for the DHS Depression and Hopelessness scales were evaluated against criteria from a DSM-IV-based interview. Discussion centers on the importance of gender-based norms when assessing women offenders.

The predictive validity of the Depression Hopelessness Suicide screening form for self-harm among prisoners

“…Self-harm is more common in jails (and in particular un-sentenced inmates; Fazel, Cartwright, NormanNott, & Hawton, 2008), and the motivations for such behaviour may differ among jail and prison inmates . Larger samples are needed to ensure that the DHS critical items perform equally well among men and women given that different norms have been suggested for the depression and hopelessness scales of the test (Kroner et al, 2011). We conducted exploratory analyses regarding sex differences in the performance of the items, and found similar sensitivity and specificity values for all models for men and women (analyses available upon request from the first author).…”

“…The DHS was designed specifically for use in correctional settings, and avoids the use of terms that are often included in screening tools (e.g. guilty) which may have ambiguous meaning for inmate populations (Kroner, Kang, Mills, Harris, & Green, 2011). The DHS consists of 39 true-false items to measure signs of depression, hopelessness and risk of suicide.…”

“…The user manual provides for discretion of the test administrator to develop a protocol to determine the appropriate response to offenders endorsing one or more of the critical items based on available resources and needs (Mills & Kroner, 2003). While the DHS has been shown to have good testretest and inter-item reliability and divergent and construct validity for both men and women (Kroner et al, 2011;Mills & Kroner, 2005) we are unaware of any research evaluating potential referral rules for these critical items. .…”

Prevalence and Correlates of Suicidal Ideation Among Parolees

“…In addition to providing help with insurance coverage and medication, parole supervisors can help decrease suicidal ideation and behavior by identifying and referring parolees with specific mental disorders to psychiatric treatment, especially those with depression, substance use disorders, and schizophrenia (35,36). It is important to work with at-risk former offenders (37,38) and follow up with those who have expressed suicidal ideation or made a suicide attempt (39).…”

Results of the Computerized Mental Health Screening System for Female Offenders

“…A third component of the measure is the 12 items associated with risk for suicide; among these are three items that assess current suicide ideation. The DHS has been found to have acceptable psychometric properties when applied to federally sentenced female offenders in Canada [19,20] where research has demonstrated that the DHS was generally equivalent to interviews and file reviews at identifying inmates with a history of self-harm.…”