Rapid screening for suicide risk: An algorithmic approach.

INTRODUCTION: In the United States, primary medical care settings are the first accessed resource for both medical and behavioral health care. Thus, there is a clear need for accurate and efficient behavioral health screening in this setting, including routine surveillance screening for suicide risk. The Multidimensional Behavioral Health Screen (MBHS), a broadband but very brief screening tool developed specifically for primary care, has been updated to include an algorithm that classifies suicide risk based on the interpersonal-psychological theory of suicide, and associated interview and decision framework. This study aims to evaluate the predictive accuracy of the new MBHS 2.0 suicide risk algorithm, with actual risk determined by clinical suicide risk interview. METHOD: Data were collected as part of a larger study that, overall, included 551 college student participants. Of these, 309 completed the MBHS 2.0 and the clinical suicide risk interview, the two measures reported here. The final participant count was 299 following the removal of incomplete or invalid cases. Predicted suicide risk as determined by the MBHS 2.0 (Low, Mild, At least Moderate) was compared to actual risk as determined by clinical interview (Low, Moderate, Severe, Extreme). RESULTS: Utilizing chi-square analyses, data show a significant association between the predicted suicide risk category based on the MBHS 2.0 algorithm and the actual risk category based on the semi-structured clinical interview. Furthermore, classification analyses suggest that primary care providers will be able to confidently assess the suicide risk level for the majority of their patients when using the MBHS. CONCLUSION: Findings suggest that the MBHS 2.0 can be an accurate and efficient tool for use by primary care providers in classifying suicide risk. Future research will be useful to evaluate the utility of the suicide risk algorithm among primary care populations.

Additional Validation of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-3 (MMPI-3) Eating Concerns Scale.

Maladaptive eating behaviors are typically associated with significant impairment in psychological functioning more broadly. The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) family of instruments has traditionally been the most frequently used psychological assessment of psychopathology by clinical psychologists. The most recent version, the MMPI-3, features a new Eating Concerns (EAT) scale that screens for the presence of problematic eating behaviors. The goals of the current study were (a) to independently replicate validity correlations reported from the college sample during EAT scale development, (b) to evaluate the utility of EAT scale item-level correlations with other substantive MMPI-3 scales, and (c) to evaluate the ability of the EAT items to predict specific frequency counts of dysfunctional eating behaviors. The current study examined the MMPI-3 assessment of dysfunctional eating behaviors among 188 undergraduate participants. Results indicated that the EAT scale is meaningfully associated with core symptom dimensions of maladaptive eating, including binging, vomiting, restricting, and concerns about weight and shape. In addition, this study identified meaningfully distinct patterns of correlations with personality and psychopathology constructs, and specific behavioral frequencies, across the five individual EAT scale items. These results contribute to the enhanced utility of this important screening scale in clinical settings.

Further mapping of the MMPI-3 onto HiTOP in a primary medical care and a college student sample.

The Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiTOP; Kotov et al., 2017, 2021) is offered as a dimensional alternative to traditional categorical diagnostic nosologies such as the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) and International Classification of Diseases (ICD). HiTOP researchers have recently published an open-source assessment system for clinical implementation, the HiTOP Digital Assessment and Tracker (Jonas et al., 2021). Here, we argue that the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-3 (MMPI-3; Ben-Porath & Tellegen 2020a), given its structural similarities to HiTOP, can augment these efforts to shift the diagnostic paradigm, with the additional strength of being comprehensively validated, standardized, and normed. Sellbom et al. (2021) examined the factor structure of the MMPI-3 Specific Problems Scales (plus RC6 and RC8), finding a pattern of latent factors much like those proposed by HiTOP in both a general mental health sample and a prisoner sample. The present study is a partial replication of Sellbom et al. (2021) with a primary medical care outpatient sample (n = 164) and a college student sample (n = 529). A sequential factoring approach yielded emergent structures that are comparable to the HiTOP model. These findings with different and important samples support the generalizability of the MMPI-3 in assessing HiTOP constructs. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Equivalence of Laptop and Tablet Administrations of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 Restructured Form.

The present study investigated the comparability of laptop computer- and tablet-based administration modes for the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2-Restructured Form (MMPI-2-RF). Employing a counterbalanced within-subjects design, the MMPI-2-RF was administered via both modes to a sample of college undergraduates ( N = 133). Administration modes were compared in terms of mean scale scores, internal consistency, test-retest consistency, external validity, and administration time. Mean scores were generally similar, and scores produced via both methods appeared approximately equal in terms of internal consistency and test-retest consistency. Scores from the two modalities also evidenced highly similar patterns of associations with external criteria. Notably, tablet administration of the MMPI-2-RF was substantially longer than laptop administration in the present study (mean difference 7.2 minutes, Cohen's d = .95). Overall, results suggest that varying administration mode between laptop and tablet has a negligible influence on MMPI-2-RF scores, providing evidence that these modes of administration can be considered psychometrically equivalent.