Intensive Crisis Intervention

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

RECRUITING

Clinical Phase

NA

Total Enrollment

213 participants

Study Classification

INTERVENTIONAL

Study Start Date

2024-06-03

Study Completion Date

2026-07-31

Brief Summary

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The study's purpose is to improve the clinical management of severe crises experienced by youth with psychiatric disorders by examining a brief, evidence-based alternative to inpatient psychiatric care.

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Detailed Description

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The objective of this study is to refine and test Intensive Crisis Intervention (ICI), a brief, evidence-based treatment that incorporates Family Therapy/Parent Training, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Motivational Interviewing to target family functioning in reducing adolescent suicidal behavior. The project's main goal is to examine feasibility, acceptability, research implementation procedures, and preliminary effectiveness of ICI using a mixed-methods approach. The investigators will utilize the extensive catchment area of Nationwide Children's Hospital Behavioral Health (NCH-BH) to complete this work. NCH-BH has a Youth Crisis Stabilization Unit (YCSU) in which ICI can be implemented and compared with outcomes from a traditional adolescent psychiatric inpatient unit (Adolescent Psychiatric Inpatient Unit \[APIU\]).

In Year 1, the investigators will further develop and refine an intervention implementation guide, including a formalized treatment manual, training and supervision protocols, and data collection processes. They will then pilot test implementation of ICI with 20 adolescents divided across the study age range of 12-17 years, 20 parents, and 16 providers. After refinement of ICI based on findings from the pilot, the investigators will recruit, assess and randomly assign 60 youth with suicidal ideation and/or behavior who are eligible for admission to both the YCSU and APIU to the YCSU (n=30) or APIU (n=30).

The central hypothesis is that ICI will be acceptable to families and show greater improvements in the investigators' proposed mechanism of change, family functioning, compared with results of traditional inpatient treatment, assessing outcomes at discharge, 30-day, and 3-month follow-up. The investigators have the following three specific aims:

Specific Aim 1: To develop, refine and pilot test ICI, including the ICI treatment manual, training, and supervision protocols, for youth with suicidal ideation and/or behavior, and to evaluate whether the proposed research implementation procedures are feasible and acceptable to adolescents, parents, and providers.

Specific Aim 2: To conduct a small randomized controlled trial to examine preliminary acceptability and effectiveness of the ICI intervention on the basis of primary outcomes (consumer satisfaction, family functioning) and secondary outcomes (suicidal ideation, suicide attempts, emergency department (ED)/inpatient admission, hopelessness, and therapeutic alliance).

Hypothesis 2a: ICI will result in higher consumer satisfaction compared to traditional inpatient treatment.

Hypothesis 2b: ICI will result in greater improvements in family functioning at discharge, 30-days, and 3-month follow-up compared to improvements made after traditional inpatient treatment.

Hypothesis 2c: ICI will result in lower rates of suicidal ideation, attempts, ED/inpatient admissions, lower hopelessness scores, and higher ratings of therapeutic alliance compared to traditional inpatient treatment.

Specific Aim 3: To identify barriers to and facilitators of implementation and sustainability of ICI using qualitative interviews and surveys with families, and clinical and organizational stakeholders.

During the RCT phase, there may be situations where the enrolled patient participant does not receive the randomized treatment due to clinical or hospital system factors. Example situations could include, but are not limited to:

1. There is a waitlist or longer wait time for the assigned unit.
2. A patient's clinical presentation changes and the treatment team's recommendations for care change.
3. Upon further observation or evaluation, a patient is determined to be able to engage in safety planning and can be discharged home.

Patient/parent participants will remain enrolled in the study and complete study measures and follow-up visits even if they do not receive their randomized treatment. Given the anticipated challenges with participants receiving the randomized condition we have planned the following analytic strategies:

1. Upon informed consent and baseline completion, participants will be randomized per protocol. Randomization outcome will be documented and conveyed to the clinical team. Study staff, via chart review, will monitor the participant's referral status and whether the participant is referred and successfully transferred to the randomized unit (i.e., APIU or YCSU). If a participant's referral status is changed for any reasons (e.g., due to waitlists or due to additional clinical information that changes the recommendation), study staff will document this change and the reason for change. Study staff will then categorize participant's intervention status as follows:

1. Transferred According to Randomization ("Intervention Per Protocol")
2. Transferred to Non-Randomized Unit ("As Treated")
3. Discharged Without Receiving Either Intervention ("Observational Only")
2. Our primary analysis will be conducted using an "As Treated" definition, where participant's data will be grouped based on which intervention was received (APIU or YCSU), using the "Intervention Per Protocol" and "As Treated" groups. We will examine any demographic or clinical characteristics between these groups ("Intervention Per Protocol" and "As Treated"), but do not anticipate any differences as these groups will reflect systems-level intervention allocation, which likely will occur by chance. "Observation Only" participants will be excluded from analysis.
3. We will also conduct an Intent-to-Treat defined analysis, in which only participants in the "Intervention Per Protocol" will be included. As such, we will be able to examine the intervention effects under the randomization paradigm.
4. We will conduct exploratory analyses to examine any demographic or clinical differences between the "Intervention Per Protocol" and "As Treated" groups, compared to the "Observational Only" group, to better understand any implications of change in clinical status leading to discharge prior to receiving more intensive care, such as that provided by APIU and YCSU.

Conditions

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Suicide Suicidal Ideation Suicide, Attempted Suicide and Self-harm Suicide Threat

Study Design

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Allocation Method

RANDOMIZED

Intervention Model

PARALLEL

The Pilot Phase will consist of 20 youth admitted to YCSU and their parents receiving ICI.

In the RCT, 60 youth will be randomized in a 1:1 ratio to YCSU (n=30) or APIU (n=30).

Primary Study Purpose

TREATMENT

Blinding Strategy

SINGLE

Outcome Assessors

Assessors will be blind to treatment assignment. It is not possible for clinicians or families to be blind to treatment.

Study Groups

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Intervention Per Protocol

Patient participant was transferred to either YCSU or APIU according to randomization

Group Type ACTIVE_COMPARATOR

Intensive Crisis Intervention (ICI)

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

ICI is a brief (Average Length of Stay \[ALOS\]: M±SD=4.5±1.4 days), intensive family-centered, skills-based alternative to traditional inpatient psychiatric care. Adolescents participate in 2-3 individual sessions and 1-2 family sessions daily. Based on the cognitive-behavioral model of suicidality, ICI emphasizes that learned, maladaptive cognitive, behavioral, and affective responses to stressors contributing to suicidal behavior can be changed. Master's-level clinicians facilitate this process by engaging adolescents and their families in developing more effective coping skills when faced with potential triggers to suicidal crises.

Adolescent Psychiatric Inpatient Unit (APIU)

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

APIU provides comprehensive assessment and treatment services to children and adolescents with significant psychiatric difficulties and to their families using a multidisciplinary approach. Symptoms and behaviors that led to admission are targeted through a milieu-based model of care and therapeutic group programming. The multidisciplinary treatment team includes a child and adolescent psychiatrist, often in collaboration with an advanced practice provider, psychologist, psychiatric nursing staff including trained mental health specialists, behavioral healthcare clinicians, care managers, rehabilitative care staff, teachers, and parent partners. Average length of stay is 9-11 days. An individualized treatment plan is developed by the entire treatment team, including the patient and caregivers, and includes initial planning for discharge with the primary treatment goal being stabilization of acute psychiatric symptoms. Programming is based on a trauma-informed biopsychosocial approach.

As Treated

Patient participant transferred to a non-randomized unit, either YCSU or APIU, due to clinical or hospital system factors.

Group Type OTHER

Intensive Crisis Intervention (ICI)

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

ICI is a brief (Average Length of Stay \[ALOS\]: M±SD=4.5±1.4 days), intensive family-centered, skills-based alternative to traditional inpatient psychiatric care. Adolescents participate in 2-3 individual sessions and 1-2 family sessions daily. Based on the cognitive-behavioral model of suicidality, ICI emphasizes that learned, maladaptive cognitive, behavioral, and affective responses to stressors contributing to suicidal behavior can be changed. Master's-level clinicians facilitate this process by engaging adolescents and their families in developing more effective coping skills when faced with potential triggers to suicidal crises.

Adolescent Psychiatric Inpatient Unit (APIU)

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

APIU provides comprehensive assessment and treatment services to children and adolescents with significant psychiatric difficulties and to their families using a multidisciplinary approach. Symptoms and behaviors that led to admission are targeted through a milieu-based model of care and therapeutic group programming. The multidisciplinary treatment team includes a child and adolescent psychiatrist, often in collaboration with an advanced practice provider, psychologist, psychiatric nursing staff including trained mental health specialists, behavioral healthcare clinicians, care managers, rehabilitative care staff, teachers, and parent partners. Average length of stay is 9-11 days. An individualized treatment plan is developed by the entire treatment team, including the patient and caregivers, and includes initial planning for discharge with the primary treatment goal being stabilization of acute psychiatric symptoms. Programming is based on a trauma-informed biopsychosocial approach.

Observation Only

Patient participant was discharged without receiving either intervention due to clinical factors

Group Type NO_INTERVENTION

No interventions assigned to this group

Interventions

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Intensive Crisis Intervention (ICI)

ICI is a brief (Average Length of Stay \[ALOS\]: M±SD=4.5±1.4 days), intensive family-centered, skills-based alternative to traditional inpatient psychiatric care. Adolescents participate in 2-3 individual sessions and 1-2 family sessions daily. Based on the cognitive-behavioral model of suicidality, ICI emphasizes that learned, maladaptive cognitive, behavioral, and affective responses to stressors contributing to suicidal behavior can be changed. Master's-level clinicians facilitate this process by engaging adolescents and their families in developing more effective coping skills when faced with potential triggers to suicidal crises.

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Adolescent Psychiatric Inpatient Unit (APIU)

APIU provides comprehensive assessment and treatment services to children and adolescents with significant psychiatric difficulties and to their families using a multidisciplinary approach. Symptoms and behaviors that led to admission are targeted through a milieu-based model of care and therapeutic group programming. The multidisciplinary treatment team includes a child and adolescent psychiatrist, often in collaboration with an advanced practice provider, psychologist, psychiatric nursing staff including trained mental health specialists, behavioral healthcare clinicians, care managers, rehabilitative care staff, teachers, and parent partners. Average length of stay is 9-11 days. An individualized treatment plan is developed by the entire treatment team, including the patient and caregivers, and includes initial planning for discharge with the primary treatment goal being stabilization of acute psychiatric symptoms. Programming is based on a trauma-informed biopsychosocial approach.

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Other Intervention Names

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ICI APIU

Eligibility Criteria

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Inclusion Criteria

1. Youth between the ages of 12 years 0 months and 17 years 6 months at time of consent
2. Present to the Nationwide Children's Hospital (NCH) Psychiatric Crisis Department (PCD) or NCH Psychiatry Consult Liaison (CL) Service with suicidal ideation and/or behavior as the primary referral
3. Be eligible for admission to both YCSU and APIU based on PCD or CL clinician's clinical judgement
4. Patient and legal guardian must be willing to be admitted to either YCSU or APIU
5. Youth obtains a score of ≥23 on the Concise Health Risk Tracking Self-Report (CHRT-SR)
6. Youth resides with a primary caretaker who has legal authority to consent for participation in research
7. Legal guardian must attend the PCD or CL evaluation

Exclusion Criteria

1. Participants who are unable to understand study procedures (e.g., intellectual disability, actively psychotic)
2. Inability to speak or read English adequately to understand and complete study consent and procedures

YCSU clinicians, PCD staff, and NCH-BH leaders will be invited to participate based on their roles in the system-of-care.

Minimum Eligible Age

12 Years

Maximum Eligible Age

17 Years

Eligible Sex

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No