Table 1.

Common suicide risk screening and assessment tools applicable in primary health care.

Tool	Target population	Main purpose	Advantages in PHC	Limitations	Practical recommendation for PHC
PHQ-9 (Item 9)	Adults	Depression and suicidal ideation screening	Brief, widely used in PHC	Limited specificity	Use as an initial screening tool; positive responses should be followed by a suicide-specific assessment.
C-SSRS	Adolescents and adults	Suicide risk assessment	Detailed suicide assessment and triage	Requires training	Suitable for structured suicide risk assessment and referral decision-making.
ASQ	Adolescents and adults	Rapid suicide screening	Very brief and feasible in PHC	Requires follow-up assessment	Recommended for rapid identification of at-risk individuals, followed by a brief suicide safety assessment.
P4 screener	Adults	Suicide risk stratification	Developed for PHC use	Less commonly implemented	Useful for stratifying suicide risk among patients reporting suicidal thoughts.
GDS	Older adults	Screening depressive symptoms and suicide risk	Useful in older adult populations	Not suicide-specific	May be used as an adjunct tool to identify older adults who require further suicide risk assessment.

PHQ-9, Patient Health Questionnaire-9; C-SSRS, Columbia-Suicide Severity Rating Scale; ASQ, Ask Suicide-Screening Questions; P4 Screener, Past Suicide Attempts, Plan, Probability of Completing Suicide, and Preventive Factors Screener; GDS, Geriatric Depression Scale; PHC, Primary Health Care.