TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2021//
TI  - Introducing the psychological autopsy methodology checklist
JO  - Suicide and life-threatening behavior
A1  - Conner, Kenneth R.
A1  - Chapman, Benjamin P.
A1  - Beautrais, Annette L.
A1  - Brent, David A.
A1  - Bridge, Jeffrey A.
A1  - Conwell, Yeates
A1  - Falter, Tyler
A1  - Holbrook, Amanda
A1  - Schneider, Barbara
SP  - ePub
EP  - ePub
VL  - ePub
IS  - ePub
N2  - OBJECTIVE: Case-control psychological autopsy studies are the research standard for the postmortem, quantitative study of ongoing or recent risk factors for suicide. We aimed to develop a reliable checklist of methodological quality of these studies. <br><br>METHOD: We adapted items from a validated checklist to address general methodological elements and created novel items to address the unique aspects of psychological autopsy research to generate a 16-item checklist assessing reporting, external validity, internal validity, and power. We used percent agreement and kappa to evaluate inter-rater reliability of the items and overall checklist based on independent ratings of 26 case-control psychological autopsy studies conducted internationally. We also summed the items to generate overall quality ratings, assessing internal consistency with coefficient alpha (α). <br><br>RESULTS: Inter-rater reliability for the overall checklist was high (percent agreement, 86.5%) and that based conservatively on kappa was substantial (κ.71) whereas internal consistency was low (α = 0.56). The inter-rater reliability of the individual items showed acceptable to high agreement. <br><br>CONCLUSION: A novel checklist provides a reliable means to assess the methodological quality of specific elements of quantitative case-control psychological autopsy studies, providing detailed guidance in planning such studies. Lower internal consistency may limit its utility as a summary measure of study quality.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0363-0234
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/sltb.12738
ID  - ref1
ER  -