The interventions that make up the primary elements of Zero Suicide are known to work. They all have research-based efficacy. Routine screening and assessment for suicide risk is a core component.
In 2015, Dr. Greg Simon and team concluded in Psychiatric Services that the PHQ-9 question 9 “identifies outpatients at increased risk for suicide attempt or death.” They added that “this excess risk emerges over several days and continues to grow for several months,” with an accuracy about twice as predictive of future suicide as cholesterol scores are of future heart attack death.