The Development of the Suicide Prevention Attitudes Rating Scale and Initial Psychometric Properties of the Scale With School Principals

Youth suicide is a national public health concern and is the second leading cause of death of the 10- to 14-year-old age group. To enable future evaluation and tailoring of school-based suicide prevention efforts, this study developed and examined initial validity evidence for the Suicide Prevention Attitudes Rating Scale (SPARS) in a sample of California school principals. This study used multiple stages to develop the measure and analyze its psychometric properties via item development, expert review, response process interviews, and statistical analyses. Validity evidence in the areas of test content evidence, response process evidence, evidence of internal psychometric structure, and evidence based on relationships to other variables was collected. Despite initial validity evidence across test content, response process, and internal structure, the SPARS did not perform as expected when examining its correlations to related measures.