Identifying self-report measures of emotion regulation and evaluating their psychometric properties: a protocol for a systematic review

INTRODUCTION

Successful emotion regulation (ER) is critical for psychological health. Disturbances in this ability are associated with several psychiatric disorders. There are several self-report questionnaires to assess ER. However, there are no studies synthesising the evidence on their psychometric properties. We aim to identify all available instruments addressing ER in adolescents or adults and to critically appraise, compare and summarise the quality of their psychometric properties. For this, we will use COnsensus-based Standards for the selection of health Measurement INstruments (COSMIN) criteria.

METHOD AND ANALYSIS

The search process to identify eligible studies will be conducted in April 2021 including the ProQuest, PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science databases with no restriction in terms of publication date. Eligibility criteria include peer-reviewed research articles written in English or Spanish by means of patient-reported outcome measures focused on ER among participants of 13 years or older. We will assess the quality of measures according to the COSMIN Risk of Bias Checklist. The psychometric properties will be assessed by the COSMIN updated criteria for good measurement. The available evidence will be addressed by the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluations approach. Our findings will be synthesised independently for each measure, including information on their sample, theoretical model and psychometric properties when possible.

ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION

Ethical approval is not required, as this study does not involve any participants or collection of primary data. Results are expected to be published in a peer-reviewed journal in the field of youth mental health and presented at relevant meetings and conferences.

PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER

CRD42021249498.

Suicidal ideation and affect lability in single and multiple suicidal attempters with Major Depressive Disorder: An exploratory network analysis

INTRODUCTION

A better understanding of the specific contribution of risk factors to suicidal behavior could arise from analyzing suicidal ideation (SI) in clinical samples, and comparing single versus multiple suicide attempters through contemporary methods allowing complex and dynamical analyses of multiple and simultaneously interacting suicide risk factors.

METHOD

We explored associations among suicidal ideation (SI), affect lability and other suicide risk factors in 323 suicidal attempters diagnosed with major depressive disorder (MDD). We analyzed the network structure and centrality of the total sample, and compared single versus multiple attempters and subjects with low and high suicidal ideation.

RESULTS

SI was connected with anxiety (trait) and hopelessness. Central nodes for global and specific groups were affect lability (from anxiety to depression), anxiety as a trait, and harm avoidance. We observed some specific differences between clinical profiles of repeaters and non-repeaters and significant network density between high and low SI.

LIMITATIONS

Because our cross-sectional design, we cannot establish casual relationships among variables. We only examined associations at group level but not at single subject level.

CONCLUSIONS

Affect lability (mainly the shifts from anxiety to depression) and trait anxiety were central in each estimated network. These symptoms might be suitable targets for early detecting and treating suicidal patients.