Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Lethality Assessment Analogue: A Behavioral Measure For Evaluating The Suicide Intervention Competency Of Crisis Hotline Volunteers, Amparo A. Pita

Retrospective Theses and Dissertations

The need for behavioral evaluations of volunteers performing hotline crisis work led to the development of the Lethality Assessment (LA) Analogue. This measure is designed to evaluate the competence of hotline volunteers in performing the specific crisis intervention skill of Lethality Assessment. This skill is the ability of the volunteers to assess suicide risk in a caller. The specific procedures used in the development of the LA Analogue and preliminary validation data on its use are reported. The development stages of the LA Analogue were following: (a) operationally defining the skill to be assessed, (b) the formulation of a case …