Suicidal Ideation Attributes Scale (SIDAS)
A total does not establish individual item responses.
For each question about the past month, select one number from 0 to 10. If you answer 0 (Never) to the first question, the remaining questions are skipped and the source-defined total is zero. Otherwise, answer all five questions. The score requires clinical interpretation and cannot establish safety.
SIDAS: Van Spijker BAJ, Batterham PJ, Calear AL, Farrer L, Christensen H, Reynolds J and Kerkhof AJFM (2014). Centre for Mental Health Research, Australian National University. Original validation: Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior 44(4), 408–419; doi:10.1111/sltb.12084. Used with developer’s no-permission-required statement and attribution retained.
Responses stay in this page’s memory. Reset or leave the page to clear them. No patient identifiers are collected.
About this scale and references
Reference information · Questionnaire
- Last content update
- 2026-10-26
- Clinical review
- Not independently reviewed
- Source jurisdiction
- See individual sources
- Coverage
- Questionnaire
| Field | Instrument context |
|---|---|
| Version | Original five-item English SIDAS; current ANU developer web form; past month; 0–10 response coding |
| Population | Adults aged 18 and older; original validation in Australian community adults. This is not the modified autistic-adult SIDAS-M edition. |
| Respondent | Self-report |
| Recall period | Past month |
| Purpose | Record the frequency, controllability, closeness to attempt, distress and interference associated with suicidal thoughts |
Administration
Use the original English adult community self-report form. Intermediate response positions are the source’s unlabelled numbers 1–9; only the two endpoints have verbal anchors. The five questions and source-defined skip are preserved. Clinical concerns require assessment regardless of the total.
Scoring method
If question 1 is Never (0), skip questions 2–5 and score zero. Otherwise sum all five ratings after reversing question 2 as 10 minus its recorded value. Total range 0–50; no unanswered response is imputed. No categorical risk or safety level is generated.
Interpretation & limitations
- The developer’s Australian adult community validation associated higher scores with more severe suicidal thoughts and reported a study-specific threshold of 21. This website reports the dimensional score and does not automatically classify a person’s suicide risk or declare safety.
- Question 2 records control, so Full control (10) contributes zero and No control (0) contributes ten when the five-item branch is completed. A question skipped by the question-1 Never branch contributes zero without reverse scoring.
- Any endorsed suicidal thoughts should be reviewed clinically. A reported attempt requires clinical assessment regardless of the total or missing responses.
- A zero, a low score or a skipped branch cannot exclude current suicidal thoughts, intent, behavior or other concerns. The recall interval is the past month; assess the current situation separately.
- This is the original SIDAS, not the separately developed SIDAS-M. The original adult community study does not establish validity for every clinical, cultural, age or language population.
- Use alongside an individual clinical assessment, not as an independent prediction of suicide or a declaration of safety.
- No automatic diagnosis, medication change or declaration of safety.
References · 2
- ANU developer SIDAS: exact English questions, usage grant, endpoint anchors, skip and scoring · ANU National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health / Centre for Mental Health Research developer resource explicitly states “Usage: No permission required – please cite reference.” This public electronic implementation preserves the source’s exact five questions, response endpoint labels, reverse scoring and skip-to-zero rule, and cites the developers and primary validation.
- Van Spijker et al. 2014: original community-based validation study