Improving descriptive reporting of suicidal ideation: A call for comprehensive metrics

Q3 Psychology
Samuel McKay , Matthew J. Spittal
{"title":"Improving descriptive reporting of suicidal ideation: A call for comprehensive metrics","authors":"Samuel McKay ,&nbsp;Matthew J. Spittal","doi":"10.1016/j.jadr.2025.100953","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Suicidal ideation is a critical risk factor and intervention target in suicide prevention research, yet its descriptive reporting remains inconsistent. Most studies report prevalence rates or mean scores, often omitting the conditional mean, the average score specifically among those experiencing suicidal ideation. This limits our ability to assess the true severity of ideation in affected populations and hampers cross-study comparability. We propose a standardised approach to descriptive reporting incorporating three key metrics: overall mean, conditional mean, and prevalence rate. These metrics provide a more comprehensive picture of the extent, severity, and prevalence of suicidal ideation. Where only categorical responses are available, we recommend reporting both prevalence and the full breakdown of response categories to preserve interpretability. The adoption of these standards would improve the precision of meta-analyses, enable more meaningful comparisons across studies, and support the development of targeted, evidence-based interventions. We call on researchers, journal editors, and reviewers to implement this reporting standard to strengthen the empirical foundation of suicide prevention efforts.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":52768,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Affective Disorders Reports","volume":"21 ","pages":"Article 100953"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Affective Disorders Reports","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666915325000836","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"Psychology","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0

Abstract

Suicidal ideation is a critical risk factor and intervention target in suicide prevention research, yet its descriptive reporting remains inconsistent. Most studies report prevalence rates or mean scores, often omitting the conditional mean, the average score specifically among those experiencing suicidal ideation. This limits our ability to assess the true severity of ideation in affected populations and hampers cross-study comparability. We propose a standardised approach to descriptive reporting incorporating three key metrics: overall mean, conditional mean, and prevalence rate. These metrics provide a more comprehensive picture of the extent, severity, and prevalence of suicidal ideation. Where only categorical responses are available, we recommend reporting both prevalence and the full breakdown of response categories to preserve interpretability. The adoption of these standards would improve the precision of meta-analyses, enable more meaningful comparisons across studies, and support the development of targeted, evidence-based interventions. We call on researchers, journal editors, and reviewers to implement this reporting standard to strengthen the empirical foundation of suicide prevention efforts.
改进自杀意念的描述性报告:对综合指标的呼吁
自杀意念是自杀预防研究中一个重要的危险因素和干预目标,但其描述性报道仍不一致。大多数研究报告的是患病率或平均得分,往往忽略了条件均值,即那些有自杀念头的人的平均得分。这限制了我们在受影响人群中评估思想真正严重程度的能力,并阻碍了交叉研究的可比性。我们提出了一种标准化的描述性报告方法,包括三个关键指标:总体平均值、条件平均值和患病率。这些指标对自杀意念的程度、严重程度和流行程度提供了更全面的了解。如果只有分类反应可用,我们建议报告患病率和反应类别的完整细分,以保持可解释性。采用这些标准将提高meta分析的准确性,使研究之间的比较更有意义,并支持有针对性的、基于证据的干预措施的发展。我们呼吁研究人员、期刊编辑和审稿人实施这一报告标准,以加强自杀预防工作的经验基础。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
求助全文
约1分钟内获得全文 求助全文
来源期刊
Journal of Affective Disorders Reports
Journal of Affective Disorders Reports Psychology-Clinical Psychology
CiteScore
3.80
自引率
0.00%
发文量
137
审稿时长
134 days
×
引用
GB/T 7714-2015
复制
MLA
复制
APA
复制
导出至
BibTeX EndNote RefMan NoteFirst NoteExpress
×
提示
您的信息不完整,为了账户安全,请先补充。
现在去补充
×
提示
您因"违规操作"
具体请查看互助需知
我知道了
×
提示
确定
请完成安全验证×
copy
已复制链接
快去分享给好友吧!
我知道了
右上角分享
点击右上角分享
0
联系我们:info@booksci.cn Book学术提供免费学术资源搜索服务,方便国内外学者检索中英文文献。致力于提供最便捷和优质的服务体验。 Copyright © 2023 布克学术 All rights reserved.
京ICP备2023020795号-1
ghs 京公网安备 11010802042870号
Book学术文献互助
Book学术文献互助群
群 号:604180095
Book学术官方微信