Return to the The Scale for Suicide Ideation (SSI) page
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*SCALE FOR SUICIDE IDEATION (SSI)*
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Script Author: Katja Borchert, Ph.D. (katjab@millisecond.com) for Millisecond Software, LLC
Date: 07-25-2014
last updated: 10-30-2019 by K. Borchert (katjab@millisecond.com) for Millisecond Software, LLC
Script Copyright © 10-30-2019 Millisecond Software
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BACKGROUND INFO
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This script implements a computerized version of the Scale of Suicide Ideation (SSI) as described in:
Beck, AT, Kovacs, M. & Weissman, A. (1979). Assessment of Suicidal Intention: The Scale for Suicide Ideation.
Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 47, 43-352.
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OVERVIEW
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The SSI is a 19-item instrument to assess suicidal intentions. Each question has 3 answer choices.
Clinician fills out the survey based on a semi-structured interview.
* 19 questions with 3 answer choices each (the answer choice suggesting the least suicide intentions
is scored as 0); question 13 has 4 answer choices (but 2 are weighted the same)
* a SSI Score is determined based on the sum of all individual scores
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DURATION
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the default set-up of the script takes appr. 5 minutes to complete
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DATA FILE INFORMATION
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The default data stored in the data files are:
(1) Raw data file: 'ssi.iqdat'
date, time: date and time script was run with the current group/subjectnumber
subject, group, session: with the current subject/groupnumber/session id
build: the Inquisit build
q*_response: response given (in assigned values)
Scale: 0-2 (anchors vary by question)
no reversed scored questions
q*_latency: how much time (in ms) the participant spent on the surveypage with this particular
question (the last time this particular surveypage was visited)
(2) Summary data file: 'ssi_summary*.iqdat' (a separate file for each participant)
computer.platform: the platform the script was run on (win/mac/ios/android)
script.startdate: date script was run
script.starttime: time script was started
script.subjectid: assigned subject id number
script.groupid: assigned group id number
script.sessionid: assigned session id number
script.elapsedtime: time it took to run script (in ms); measured from onset to offset of script
script.completed: 0 = script was not completed (prematurely aborted);
1 = script was completed (all conditions run))
expressions.ssi_total: sum of all response scores
Range 0-38: the answer choice suggesting the least suicide intentions is scored as 0
=> the higher the score the higher reported suicide intention
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INSTRUCTIONS
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Not original, can be easily edited under Editable Parameters
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EDITABLE CODE
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check below for (relatively) easily editable parameters, stimuli, instructions etc.
Keep in mind that you can use this script as a template and therefore always "mess" with the entire code
to further customize your experiment.
The parameters you can change are:
/pageinstructions: the instructions that appear at the top of each surveypage