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The Self-Injury Questionnaire: evaluation of the psychometric properties in a clinical population.

Santa Mina EE, Gallop R, Links P, Heslegrave R, Pringle D, Wekerle C, Grewal P

School of Nursing, Ryerson University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. esantami@ryerson.ca

This paper presents the findings, from a clinical study, on the reliability and validity of a new measure for intentions in self-harm behaviour, the Self-Injury Questionnaire (SIQ). Eighty-three patients, who had presented to an emergency department with an episode of self-harm/suicidal behaviour, were given the SIQ as part of a battery of measures to evaluate differentiation in self-harm intentions based upon a history of childhood physical and/or sexual abuse. The internal consistency for the total scale was strong (alpha = 0.83). Construct validity demonstrated significant correlations with standardized measures. A principle component analysis of responses yielded a five-factor solution with 'affect regulation' items loading on the first factor. Cronbach's alphas were adequate for each subscale (alpha = 0.72-0.77). These preliminary findings indicate that the SIQ is a valid and reliable measure for research in an acute self-harming population.

Published 12 April 2006 in J Psychiatr Ment Health Nurs, 13(2): 221-7.
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