Validation of the Spanish Version of the Nurses' Global Assessment of Suicide Risk Scale (NGAR) in Nonclinical Settings

Abstract

Aim: To validate the Nurses' Global Assessment of Suicide Risk (NGASR) in Spanish for an early detection identification of the risk of suicide.

Design: A descriptive cross-sectional survey design was used for this work through face-to-face clinical interviews with each participant.

Method: Following EQUATOR TRIPOD checklist, the index was translated and administered to a sample of 30 mental health experts and 151 university students. To examine the psychometric properties of the NGASR, the questionnaires also included other standardised scales such as BDI, SBQ and SEEQ. The research was conducted between 2022 and 2023.

Results: The content validity index-scale (CVI-S) was 81% and the NGASR presented high reliability with a Kuder–Richardson coefficient of 0.83. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) returned a six-factor structure for the NGASR items. The results showed that 21.7% of the students assessed had an intermediate to very high suicide risk. This study also revealed that people with mental health problems and depression had a higher risk of suicide.

Public Contribution: Beyond the sociolinguistic Spanish validation of the scale, it should be noted that it is carried out on a young population in a nonclinical environment, something that many authors have been requesting in their previous validations. The NGASR is a useful prevention tool in university educational settings.