SIDAS-M
ValidatedSuicidal Ideation Attributes Scale – Modified (SIDAS-M)
18+ years (autistic adults)Self~3 min5 questions
Five questions about thoughts of killing yourself in the last 4 weeks, each answered on a scale from 0 to 10. If the answer to the first question is 0, the remaining questions are skipped.
Report details · optional
Shown on the report and stored with the screening record. Use initials or a code, not full names.
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About this screener — evidence, source, alternatives
A version of the SIDAS developed with autistic people, researchers, and suicide-prevention experts. Questions use concrete language to avoid ambiguity and include explanations and response examples. Five 0–10 items cover frequency, difficulty stopping the thoughts, closeness to an attempt, distress, and interference with usual activities. Also suitable for other adults who might benefit from the plainer wording.
Evidence · validated
Preliminary validation in 102 Australian autistic adults (18+) without intellectual disability. Against best-estimate clinical judgement, a cut-off of 1 had 100% sensitivity (52.8% specificity) for risk above low; ≥ 9 maximised sensitivity (77.8%) and specificity (75.3%); ≥ 21 had 89.9% specificity (55.6% sensitivity). McDonald’s omega 0.93; single-factor structure (Hedley et al., 2022).
Free alternative to
- Suicidal Ideation Attributes Scale (SIDAS) · Australian National University
The original five-attribute structure, re-worded with autistic adults.
Source & licence
Hedley D, Batterham PJ, Bury SM, Clapperton A, Denney K, Dissanayake C, Fox P, Frazier TW, Gallagher E, Hayward SM, Robinson J, Sahin E, Trollor J, Uljarević M, Stokes MA. The Suicide Ideation Attributes Scale-Modified (SIDAS-M): development and preliminary validation of a new scale for the measurement of suicidal ideation in autistic people. Autism. 2022. doi:10.1177/13623613221131234
Licence: Free — the Australian National University states “No permission required – please cite reference.”
Item wording, explanations and scale end-point labels are from the official SIDAS-M form (easy English v5.0). The original form shows each 0–10 scale as a visual analogue bar.
Official source ↗