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A Pilot Evaluation of a Digital Peer Support Intervention for Suicidal Adolescents

NCT ID: NCT06349915

Last Updated: 2025-12-30

Study Results

Results pending

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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Recruitment Status

NOT_YET_RECRUITING

Clinical Phase

NA

Total Enrollment

46 participants

Study Classification

INTERVENTIONAL

Study Start Date

2026-01-31

Study Completion Date

2027-07-31

Brief Summary

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Suicide risk has increased among youth in underserved communities, where access to mental healthcare is limited. To address this need, the investigator team plans to evaluate the preliminary efficacy of a brief, low-cost, culturally responsive digital intervention for ethnically diverse youth at risk for suicide in The Bronx, New York. In collaboration with community stakeholders, suicide recovery narratives, featuring adolescents' experiences related to recovery from suicidal thoughts will be developed. A smartphone ecological momentary assessment (EMA) app will be used to evaluate whether a curriculum of these narratives provides anti-suicidal benefits to at-risk adolescents.

Detailed Description

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This is a single-arm investigation of a novel suicide prevention intervention, called "Supporting Wellbeing with Everyday Experiences of Peers" (SWEEP). In a preliminary phase (Phase 1) of the study, suicide recovery narratives: short first-person stories about lived experience with and recovery from Bronx Adolescents will be collected. The investigator team will then evaluate evaluate the anti-suicidal benefits of this intervention in a single-arm trial. In a subsequent phase (Phase 2), adolescent participants (n=46) will be provided with the SWEEP intervention, which involves reading or listening to one suicide recovery narrative each day during the 14-day trial. Six of the 46 participants will be adolescents, with recent suicidal thoughts or depression, who are currently receiving mental healthcare in Montefiore's Outpatient Psychiatry Department, rather than those on the waitlist to receive these services. All six participants will then complete a post-intervention qualitative interview to inform potential changes to intervention procedures. During this second phase, suicide recovery narratives will be provided, in audio and text formats, via a smartphone app. That same smartphone app will also collect real-time (ecological momentary) assessments of suicidal thoughts, as well as secondary and additional outcomes, five times per day. The investigator team will evaluate whether participants experience reductions in the intensity of suicidal thoughts over the course of the 14-day trial. During Phase 3, participants will be recruited to a control condition (n=15) and a treatment condition (n=30). Those in the Phase 3 treatment condition will receive the same intervention (1 SWEEP narrative per day for 14 days + 3x/day EMA) as those in Phase 2. Those in the Control condition will receive 3x/day EMA only.

Conditions

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Suicide

Keywords

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digital intervention community participation ecological momentary assessment

Study Design

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Allocation Method

NA

Intervention Model

SINGLE_GROUP

The first 6 participants will serve as a brief pilot to validate outcomes and the acceptability of the intervention. The study team may make slight changes to the intervention (e.g., time of day the suicide recovery narratives are administered, or which narratives are presented) before recruiting the remaining 40 participants.
Primary Study Purpose

PREVENTION

Blinding Strategy

NONE

Study Groups

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Intervention

This is a single-arm study. All participants will be allocated to the intervention arm, in which they will receive the digital narrative therapy.

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

Supporting Wellbeing with Everyday Experiences of Peers (SWEEP)

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Each day during a 14-day trial period, participants will receive one narrative featuring lived experience with and recovery from suicidal thoughts and behaviors. These narratives will be presented in audio and text format via a smartphone app. Participants will also complete self-report surveys assessing study outcomes using the same smartphone app five times per day.

Interventions

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Supporting Wellbeing with Everyday Experiences of Peers (SWEEP)

Each day during a 14-day trial period, participants will receive one narrative featuring lived experience with and recovery from suicidal thoughts and behaviors. These narratives will be presented in audio and text format via a smartphone app. Participants will also complete self-report surveys assessing study outcomes using the same smartphone app five times per day.

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Other Intervention Names

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SWEEP

Eligibility Criteria

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Inclusion Criteria

* past-month history of suicidal thoughts
* past-month history of Major depressive disorder
* possession of apple or android smartphone with data plan

Exclusion Criteria

* inability to read/write in English
* Active mania
* Active psychosis
* Autism spectrum disorder
Minimum Eligible Age

14 Years

Maximum Eligible Age

18 Years

Eligible Sex

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Sponsors

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American Foundation for Suicide Prevention

OTHER

Sponsor Role collaborator

Yeshiva University

OTHER

Sponsor Role collaborator

Ilumivu

UNKNOWN

Sponsor Role collaborator

Albert Einstein College of Medicine

OTHER

Sponsor Role lead

Responsible Party

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Responsibility Role SPONSOR

Principal Investigators

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Peter J Franz, Ph.D.

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Albert Einstein College of Medicine

Locations

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Montefiore Health System

The Bronx, New York, United States

Site Status

Countries

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United States

Central Contacts

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Peter J Franz, Ph.D.

Role: CONTACT

Phone: 6077278620

Email: [email protected]

References

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Franz PJ, Mou D, Kessler DT, Stubbing J, Jaroszewski AC, Ray S, Cao-Silveira VB, Bachman S, Schuster S, Graupensperger D, Alpert JE, Porath M, Nock MK. Digital bibliotherapy as a scalable intervention for suicidal thoughts: A randomized controlled trial. J Consult Clin Psychol. 2022 Aug;90(8):626-637. doi: 10.1037/ccp0000752.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
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Reference Type BACKGROUND

Fox KR, Huang X, Guzman EM, Funsch KM, Cha CB, Ribeiro JD, Franklin JC. Interventions for suicide and self-injury: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials across nearly 50 years of research. Psychol Bull. 2020 Dec;146(12):1117-1145. doi: 10.1037/bul0000305. Epub 2020 Oct 29.

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Alvarez K, Polanco-Roman L, Samuel Breslow A, Molock S. Structural Racism and Suicide Prevention for Ethnoracially Minoritized Youth: A Conceptual Framework and Illustration Across Systems. Am J Psychiatry. 2022 Jun;179(6):422-433. doi: 10.1176/appi.ajp.21101001.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 35599542 (View on PubMed)

Bray MJC, Daneshvari NO, Radhakrishnan I, Cubbage J, Eagle M, Southall P, Nestadt PS. Racial Differences in Statewide Suicide Mortality Trends in Maryland During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Pandemic. JAMA Psychiatry. 2021 Apr 1;78(4):444-447. doi: 10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2020.3938.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 33325985 (View on PubMed)

Weimerskirch PJ. Benjamin Rush and John Minson Galt, II. Pioneers of bibliotherapy in America. Bull Med Libr Assoc. 1965 Oct;53(4):510-26.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 5319266 (View on PubMed)

Stip E, Ostlundh L, Abdel Aziz K. Bibliotherapy: Reading OVID During COVID. Front Psychiatry. 2020 Dec 7;11:567539. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2020.567539. eCollection 2020.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 33364987 (View on PubMed)

Evans K, Tyrer P, Catalan J, Schmidt U, Davidson K, Dent J, Tata P, Thornton S, Barber J, Thompson S. Manual-assisted cognitive-behaviour therapy (MACT): a randomized controlled trial of a brief intervention with bibliotherapy in the treatment of recurrent deliberate self-harm. Psychol Med. 1999 Jan;29(1):19-25. doi: 10.1017/s003329179800765x.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 10077290 (View on PubMed)

Gualano MR, Bert F, Martorana M, Voglino G, Andriolo V, Thomas R, Gramaglia C, Zeppegno P, Siliquini R. The long-term effects of bibliotherapy in depression treatment: Systematic review of randomized clinical trials. Clin Psychol Rev. 2017 Dec;58:49-58. doi: 10.1016/j.cpr.2017.09.006. Epub 2017 Sep 29.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 28993103 (View on PubMed)

Bietti LM, Tilston O, Bangerter A. Storytelling as Adaptive Collective Sensemaking. Top Cogn Sci. 2019 Oct;11(4):710-732. doi: 10.1111/tops.12358. Epub 2018 Jun 28.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 29954043 (View on PubMed)

Rennick-Egglestone S, Morgan K, Llewellyn-Beardsley J, Ramsay A, McGranahan R, Gillard S, Hui A, Ng F, Schneider J, Booth S, Pinfold V, Davidson L, Franklin D, Bradstreet S, Arbour S, Slade M. Mental Health Recovery Narratives and Their Impact on Recipients: Systematic Review and Narrative Synthesis. Can J Psychiatry. 2019 Oct;64(10):669-679. doi: 10.1177/0706743719846108. Epub 2019 May 2.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 31046432 (View on PubMed)

Van Orden KA, Witte TK, Cukrowicz KC, Braithwaite SR, Selby EA, Joiner TE Jr. The interpersonal theory of suicide. Psychol Rev. 2010 Apr;117(2):575-600. doi: 10.1037/a0018697.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 20438238 (View on PubMed)

Joiner T. Why People Die by Suicide. Harvard University Press; 2005.

Reference Type BACKGROUND

Nock MK, Green JG, Hwang I, McLaughlin KA, Sampson NA, Zaslavsky AM, Kessler RC. Prevalence, correlates, and treatment of lifetime suicidal behavior among adolescents: results from the National Comorbidity Survey Replication Adolescent Supplement. JAMA Psychiatry. 2013 Mar;70(3):300-10. doi: 10.1001/2013.jamapsychiatry.55.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 23303463 (View on PubMed)

Millner AJ, Lee MD, Nock MK. Describing and Measuring the Pathway to Suicide Attempts: A Preliminary Study. Suicide Life Threat Behav. 2017 Jun;47(3):353-369. doi: 10.1111/sltb.12284. Epub 2016 Aug 1.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 27477787 (View on PubMed)

Franklin JC, Ribeiro JD, Fox KR, Bentley KH, Kleiman EM, Huang X, Musacchio KM, Jaroszewski AC, Chang BP, Nock MK. Risk factors for suicidal thoughts and behaviors: A meta-analysis of 50 years of research. Psychol Bull. 2017 Feb;143(2):187-232. doi: 10.1037/bul0000084. Epub 2016 Nov 14.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
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Roswarski T, Dunn J. The Role of Help and Hope in Prevention and Early Intervention with Suicidal Adolescents: Implications for Mental Health Counselors. J Ment Health Couns. 2009;31(1):34-46. doi:10.17744/mehc.31.1.u150745762627518

Reference Type BACKGROUND

Franz PJ, Nook EC, Mair P, Nock MK. Using Topic Modeling to Detect and Describe Self-Injurious and Related Content on a Large-Scale Digital Platform. Suicide Life Threat Behav. 2020 Feb;50(1):5-18. doi: 10.1111/sltb.12569. Epub 2019 Jul 2.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 31264733 (View on PubMed)

Other Identifiers

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2023-15217

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id