Abstract
Only a few questionnaires are available for measuring attitude towards suicide as a unidimensional construct, i.e. emphasizing acceptance or disapproval of the suicidal act under a set of difficult life circumstances. The aim of this study was to develop the Suicide Acceptance Questionnaire (SAQ) and examine its psychometric properties. A group of 177 Psychology, Medicine and Law students completed the SAQ, Attitudes Towards Suicide questionnaire and a demographic survey. Exploratory factor analysis found the SAQ to have a single factor structure, explaining 55.49% of variance, with high goodness of fit. Owing to the nature of explicit attitudes, the SAQ may have limited power in predicting behavior. The findings indicate that the SAQ demonstrates appropriate reliability and concurrent validity for measuring the acceptance of suicide act. Future research with use of confirmatory factor analysis is needed for determining whether the proposed construct fits data.
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Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Edward Lowczowski for improving and proofreading the manuscript. A special thanks goes to Professor Doctor Honoris Causa Brunon Hołyst for access to the original survey from his study and for being our inspiration.
Funding
This study was funded by University of Lodz Grant No. B1611800001310.02
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Stecz, P., Gmitrowicz, A. & Nowakowska-Domagała, K. Psychometric Properties of the Suicide Acceptance Questionnaire. Community Ment Health J 56, 506–512 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-019-00507-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-019-00507-4