A Health System/Community Partnership for Enhanced Outreach to Prevent Suicide Attempts
NCT ID: NCT05837026
Last Updated: 2024-12-02
Study Results
The study team has not published outcome measurements, participant flow, or safety data for this trial yet. Check back later for updates.
Basic Information
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NOT_YET_RECRUITING
NA
300 participants
INTERVENTIONAL
2026-06-30
2027-11-30
Brief Summary
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* Does the EOI reduce suicide-related behaviors?
* Does the EOI increase outpatient treatment attendance?
* Is the EOI acceptable and feasible?
* Can the EOI be delivered with fidelity by Samaritans?
Participants will be randomized to the EOI plus care as usual or care as usual alone. Participants in the EOI plus care as usual group will:
* Receive outreach (by call or text) at a planned time once per week for the next 12 weeks. During these conversations, Samaritans staff will ask participants questions about their suicidal thoughts and behaviors, develop and review a list of coping skills to use if they have suicidal thoughts, and discuss plans for receiving mental health care.
* Receive caring messages from Samaritans staff at least once per week.
* Receive standard care that hospitals give for patients who present with suicidal thoughts.
* Be asked to complete monthly self-report questionnaires.
For care as usual alone, participants will:
* Receive standard care that hospitals give for patients who present with suicidal thoughts.
* Be asked to complete monthly self-report questionnaires.
Detailed Description
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The purpose of this study is to evaluate a recently developed Enhanced Outreach Intervention (EOI) for post-ED discharge that combines multiple evidence-based suicide prevention components (e.g., safety planning, risk assessment, caring contacts, and care engagement) and is delivered through a partnership between a healthcare system (Mass General Brigham \[MGB\]) and a local crisis line organization (Samaritans of Boston). Combining multiple evidence-based interventions has the potential to increase effectiveness over usual practices, and partnering with a community organization vastly increases scalability.
Samaritans staff will undergo robust, multifaceted training on the EOI, and use standardized decision trees to guide EOI delivery. The investigators will conduct a randomized controlled trial (N=300) of the EOI plus care as usual versus care as usual alone after ED discharge to test effectiveness of the EOI and collect data on implementation-related factors. The investigators will also explore potential moderators of intervention effects, including age, sex, race/ethnicity, and predicted risk of suicide attempt at baseline.
Conditions
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Study Design
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RANDOMIZED
PARALLEL
PREVENTION
NONE
Study Groups
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Enhanced Outreach Intervention plus Care as Usual (CAU)
Participants will receive the Enhanced Outreach Intervention (EOI) plus care as usual for 12 weeks after ED discharge.
Enhanced Outreach Intervention (EOI) plus Care as Usual (CAU)
The EOI will contain four main components: safety planning, caring contacts, care engagement, and risk assessment.
Outreach (via phone or text messaging) from Samaritans staff will be conducted every week of the 12 week intervention. Conversations will use a standardized phone script to (a) conduct a risk assessment, (b) develop and review a list of coping skills to use if the participant has suicidal thoughts, and (c) discuss plans for receiving mental health care. Samaritans staff will also send a caring text message or email at least once per week.
Participants will also receive standard care that hospitals provide to patients who present with suicidal thoughts.
Care as Usual (CAU)
Participants will receive the standard care (i.e., CAU) that the hospital provides to patients who present with suicidal thoughts.
Care as Usual (CAU)
Participants will receive standard care that hospitals provide to patients who present with suicidal thoughts.
Interventions
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Enhanced Outreach Intervention (EOI) plus Care as Usual (CAU)
The EOI will contain four main components: safety planning, caring contacts, care engagement, and risk assessment.
Outreach (via phone or text messaging) from Samaritans staff will be conducted every week of the 12 week intervention. Conversations will use a standardized phone script to (a) conduct a risk assessment, (b) develop and review a list of coping skills to use if the participant has suicidal thoughts, and (c) discuss plans for receiving mental health care. Samaritans staff will also send a caring text message or email at least once per week.
Participants will also receive standard care that hospitals provide to patients who present with suicidal thoughts.
Care as Usual (CAU)
Participants will receive standard care that hospitals provide to patients who present with suicidal thoughts.
Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria
2. Participants enrolled in another study (NCT05671133; PI Nock) conducted by the research team who fall into the top 50% of risk based on the suicide risk prediction algorithm used in that study
3. Able to read English
4. Ownership of a smartphone (iOS or Android) and consistent access to their smartphone following discharge from the current treatment unit or program; ability to be reliably contacted
5. Willing to provide contact information for collateral contact
6. Willing to share contact information and key clinical information with Samaritans of Boston
7. Consent to unencrypted text or email communications
8. Willing to provide social security number (SSN) or individual taxpayer identification number (ITIN) for study compensation
Exclusion Criteria
2. Presence of extremely agitated or violent behavior at the time of consent or enrollment
18 Years
ALL
No
Sponsors
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National Institutes of Health (NIH)
NIH
Samaritans of Boston
UNKNOWN
Massachusetts General Hospital
OTHER
Responsible Party
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Jordan W. Smoller, MD
Associate Chief for Research, Department of Psychiatry
Principal Investigators
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Jordan Smoller, MD, ScD
Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
Massachusetts General Hospital
Central Contacts
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References
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Doupnik SK, Rudd B, Schmutte T, Worsley D, Bowden CF, McCarthy E, Eggan E, Bridge JA, Marcus SC. Association of Suicide Prevention Interventions With Subsequent Suicide Attempts, Linkage to Follow-up Care, and Depression Symptoms for Acute Care Settings: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. JAMA Psychiatry. 2020 Oct 1;77(10):1021-1030. doi: 10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2020.1586.
Milner AJ, Carter G, Pirkis J, Robinson J, Spittal MJ. Letters, green cards, telephone calls and postcards: systematic and meta-analytic review of brief contact interventions for reducing self-harm, suicide attempts and suicide. Br J Psychiatry. 2015 Mar;206(3):184-90. doi: 10.1192/bjp.bp.114.147819.
National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention: Transforming Health Systems Initiative Work Group. Recommended standard care for people with suicide risk: Making health care suicide safe. Education Development Center, Inc. Published online 2018.
Office of the Surgeon General (OSG). The Surgeon General's Call to Action to Implement the National Strategy for Suicide Prevention [Internet]. Washington (DC): US Department of Health and Human Services; 2021-. Available from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK592704/
Other Identifiers
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2023P000611-B
Identifier Type: -
Identifier Source: org_study_id