Using Structured Telephone Follow‐up Assessments to Improve Suicide‐Related Adverse Event Detection

Adverse event (AE) detection and reporting practices were compared during the first phase of the Emergency Department Safety Assessment and Follow‐up Evaluation (ED‐SAFE), a suicide intervention study. Data were collected using a combination of chart reviews and structured telephone follow‐up assessments postenrollment. Beyond chart reviews, structured telephone follow‐up assessments identified 45% of the total AEs in our study. Notably, detection of suicide attempts significantly varied by approach with 53 (18%) detected by chart review, 173 (59%) by structured telephone follow‐up assessments, and 69 (23%) marked as duplicates. Findings provide support for utilizing multiple methods for more robust AE detection in suicide research.     

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN FUTURE TIME PERSPECTIVE AND MEMORY CONTROL BELIEFS IN OLDER ADULTS

In studies with older adults, future time perspective (FTP) is most frequently assessed using the Carstensen and Lang FTP scale. However, it has been proposed that that this scale is actually composed of three interrelated subcomponents. Within a sample of 189 community-dwelling older adults (aged 60–85), we replicated a three-component structure. We also found that these subscales vary in their relationships to other measures of time perspective (i.e., future time attitudes and perceived life progress), and in their relationships to control beliefs about memory. These findings complement prior research documenting a link between FTP and control beliefs by showing that the magnitude of this association varies across FTP components. Understanding the interplay between FTP and memory control beliefs is also important as both predict important age-related outcomes and may be modifiable via intervention. The reciprocal relationship between these factors and the implications for successful aging are discussed.     

Authority as a contingency plan

Humean constructivists object to Kantian constructivism that by endorsing the constitutivist strategy, which grounds moral obligations in rational agency, this position discounts the impact of contingency in moral life. In response to these charges, I argue that Humeans misrepresent the challenge of contingency and fail to provide adequate resources to cope with it. In its formalist variety, Humean constructivism fails to make sense of an important category of ethical judgments, which claim universal authority. The substantive varieties of Humean constructivism recognize that some ethical judgments aspire to universality, but fail to fully justify such an aspiration. These versions of constructivism represent a setback in regard to the achievements of Kantian constructivism. In conclusion, I briefly resume the advantages of advocating a Kantian conception of rational authority as a response to contingency.