Escala de desesperanza de Beck como instrumento útil para detectar riesgo de suicidio en universitarios chilenos

Abstract

Introduction: The aim of present study is to determine the psychometric properties and the factorial structure of the Beck Hopelessness Scale (BHS), validating its use in Chile as a suicide risk screening tool among university students. Method: The sample included 200 college freshmen undergraduate belonging to the Austral University of Chile, who through the website of the university, answered voluntary the Informed Consent and the questionnaires that allowed verifying the concurrent and discriminant validity of the BHS scale. The internal consistency of this scale was evaluated by Cronbach's alpha internal consistency. The data were analyzed through correlational and principal component analyzes. Results: The different Statistical analysis revealed a high level of internal consistency in the BHS scale, being a reliability and valid instrument to detect suicide risk in Chilean university population. Likewise, Principal Component Analysis showed a four-factor model, which varies from that proposed by the BHS authors, although it is consistent with that found in other international studies. Conclusions: The present investigation allows us to suppose that the BHS is a reliable and valid instrument to detect suicidal risk in Chilean university students. This brief and easy to administer instrument would allow to detect effective and early suicidality, being a contribution to the prevention of this phenomenon in our country.