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The SIMPLE STEPS (McGlothlin, 2008) model of suicide assessment provides clinicians with a comprehensive mnemonic framework for assessing suicide lethality. It provides a broader context to assess suicide compared to other mnemonic devices with similar intent (i.e., PLAID, PIMP, IS PATH WARM, etc.) In this article, six years of data (N = 13,423 records of individual callers to a suicide prevention hotline) were analyzed. Via regression analysis, the researchers examined the relationship of the SIMPLE STEPS variables to caller's suicide lethality. It was found that all variables of the SIMPLE STEPS model predicted suicide lethality. Furthermore, this article depicts one of the few evidence-based studies for using a mnemonic device in practice. The results of this study have implications for the general practice of assessing suicidal clients with mnemonic devices and the general treatment of suicidal clients.
According to the most recent statistics, suicide is the tenth leading cause of death in the United States and ranked second among youth (American Association of Suicidology, 2015). According to scholarly literature, working with client suicidality is one of the most difficult and stress provoking issues that counselors face (Bonner, 1990; Kleespies, Penk, & Forsyth; McAdams & Foster, 2000). Though it is difficult, given the high prevalence of suicide, counselors must assess, treat, and attempt to prevent suicide on a daily basis.
In an effort of prevention, counselors frequently recommend suicide prevention hotlines as a resource to provide suicidal clients with 24-hour support. For several decades, suicide hotlines have represented the nation's most advertised and used method of suicide prevention (Budinger, Cwik, & Riddle, 2015). In fact, when The Los Angeles Suicide Prevention Center opened its first hotline in 1958, experts claimed it to be the most significant event in the history of the suicide prevention movement (Spencer-Thomas & Jahn, 2012). Currently, hotlines are widely known and highly accessible and provide a valuable resource to individuals who may not seek other means of professional help (Witte, Gould, Munfakh & Kleinman, 2010). Suicide prevention hotlines have also been seen as providing the truest look at one's suicidality because people typically call these hotlines in their highest state of suicidal ideation and lethality (McGlothlin, 2008).
Over the years, suicide prevention hotlines have become more scrutinized and standardized, as evidenced...