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U.S. Department of Defense using UE professor's suicide rate system

Posted: Monday, February 9, 2015

A new suicide rate system, created by Dr. Mark Kopta, UE professor of psychology, has been picked up by the U.S. Department of Defense.  Kopta is founder and executive director of the CelestHealth Solutions Research Group which studies behavioral health as well as outcomes of psychotherapy treatment.

The Behavioral Health Measure-20 questionnaire uses 20 items to “comprehensively” assess mental health including depression, anxiety, eating disorders and bipolar disorder. It also features a “valid and reliable” color-coded suicide risk indicator that Kopta said rates patient risk at four levels — no risk, low, medium and high.

“The reason why they (U.S. Department of Defense) like it is because it’s brief, at only 90 seconds ... And something that the military was very attracted to also was it has a suicide monitoring scale,” Kopta said.

Click here for more information on this system in an article from the Evansville Courier and Press that features an in-depth interview with Dr. Kopta. 

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