A Study on Reliability and Validity of the Nurses' Global Assessment of Suicide Risk (NGASR) for Psychiatric Inpatients

Abstract

Purpose: Assessment of suicide risk is a critical task for nurses, especially for nurses working with psychiatric inpatients. The purpose of this study was to verify the reliability and validity of the Nurses' Global Assessment of Suicide Risk (NGASR) for psychiatric inpatients. Methods: This study was methodological study. A scale composed of 15 items was used with 106 psychiatric inpatients in open and closed psychiatric units of a tertiary hospital. Cohen's kappa coefficient, Intraclass correlation, factor analysis and Jonckheere-Terpstra Test for Ordered Alternatives were used for statistic analysis. Results: Main results were as follows; Reliability of the scale was supported with a total intraclass correlation coefficient of .890 (range from .722 to 1.000). In investigating construct validity, 15 items loaded on six factors which explained 63.4% of total variance. Also the Jonckheere- Terpstra test revealed a significant trend in the order of median scores of NGASR across the three groups of Evaluation of Suicide Risk (ESR). These results supported the criterion-related validity of the scale. Conclusion: The findings in this study indicate that this scale is reliable and valid in assessing suicide risk of psychiatric inpatients. Therefore it is an appropriate scale to assess suicide risk for psychiatric inpatients.