Suicide Research & Data Analysis Flashcards

What is the key ethical concern when conducting research that involves interviewing recent suicide attempt survivors?

Answer: Balancing the risk of psychological distress from participation against the scientific value and participant autonomy

Research ethics require weighing potential distress from discussing the attempt against the value of generating knowledge and respecting survivors' right to participate in research.

Which epidemiological measure would best capture the burden of suicidal behavior across its full severity spectrum in a population?

Answer: A composite measure encompassing ideation prevalence, attempt incidence, and mortality rate

Because suicidal behavior exists on a spectrum from ideation through attempts to death, comprehensive surveillance requires tracking all levels rather than mortality alone.

What does the term 'publication bias' mean in systematic reviews of suicide intervention research?

Answer: Studies showing significant positive effects are more likely to be published, inflating apparent intervention effectiveness

Publication bias skews the literature toward positive findings because journals and researchers are more likely to publish statistically significant results, making interventions appear more effective than they are.

In epidemiology, 'incidence' differs from 'prevalence' in that incidence specifically measures which of the following?

Answer: New cases occurring within a defined population over a specified time period

Incidence counts newly occurring cases during a time window (e.g., new suicide attempts per year), while prevalence counts all existing cases regardless of when they began.

Which demographic pattern in US suicide data is described as the 'gender paradox of suicidal behavior'?

Answer: Females attempt suicide more frequently than males, but males die by suicide at a higher rate

The gender paradox refers to the paradoxical finding that females have higher rates of nonfatal attempts while males have approximately 3–4 times higher suicide mortality, largely due to method lethality differences.

What is the main advantage of using administrative health data (e.g., insurance claims, hospital records) in large-scale suicide research?

Answer: Large sample sizes and longitudinal follow-up without requiring direct participant recruitment

Administrative databases provide access to millions of records over many years, enabling studies of rare outcomes like suicide death and analysis of health system factors at scale.

Which concept does 'acquired capability for suicide' refer to in the Interpersonal Theory of Suicide?

Answer: Reduced fear of death and increased pain tolerance developed through repeated exposure to painful or provocative experiences

Joiner's theory holds that habituation to fear and pain—through prior attempts, self-injury, combat exposure, or similar experiences—builds the capacity to act on suicidal desire.