Brief New Treatment for Suicide Attempts

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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Individuals with alcohol or drug use problems who are hospitalized for suicide attempt are at high risk for reattempt. This treatment development study adapts a promising outpatient intervention to prevent suicide reattempt in order to administer it during hospitalization to individuals with alcohol and drug use problems, and to test the adapted intervention in a pilot randomized controlled trial.

Official Title
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Suicidal Adults With Alcohol or Drug Use Problems: A New Hospital-based Treatment

Conditions
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Suicide, Attempted, Drug Use, Alcohol; Use, Problem

Intervention / Treatment
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* Behavioral: Brief intervention to prevent suicide attempt
* Behavioral: Enhanced treatment as usual


Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria: suicide attempt within one week of hospitalization with acknowledgment of some intent to die using a standard item problematic alcohol or drug use as determined by score >8 on Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test, AUDIT or >3 on the 10-item version of the Drug Abuse Screening Test, DAST-10 admission to hospital residence within 40 miles of Strong Memorial Hospital Exclusion Criteria: under age 18 treated in ED, CPEP, or observation unit only unable to communicate with the researcher in English unable to comprehend the nature of the study participation untenable from a medical (e.g., intubated), psychiatric (e.g., florid psychosis), or behavioral (e.g., refusing to speak with staff) standpoint short hospital length of stay, ruling out administering three sessions of the therapy prior to discharge

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 18 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
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All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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No

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Design Details

Primary Purpose: Treatment
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: Single


Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| Experimental: brief intervention to prevent suicide attempt<br>Individuals presenting to hospital following a suicide attempt who are age 18-plus and screen positive for alcohol or drug use problem | Behavioral: Brief intervention to prevent suicide attempt<br>* A patient-centered, 3-session intervention that calls for videotaping the narrative story of a patient's suicide attempt, in his/her own words (session 1); reviewing segments of the tape to arrive at a shared understanding of the attempt and the sequence of events that led to it (session 2); and using this information, along with a homework task completed by the patient in-between sessions, in order to develop a collaborative, comprehensive written safety plan that addresses the patient's unique vulnerabilities (session 3).<br>* Other names: Modification of the Attempted Suicide Short Intervention Program (ASSIP);|
| Other: standard of care<br>Individuals presenting to hospital following a suicide attempt who are age 18-plus and screen positive for alcohol or drug use problem | Behavioral: Enhanced treatment as usual<br>* Safety procedures' control intervention. For these procedures we will share summary results of the research assessments regarding suicidal thoughts, suicidal behaviors, alcohol and drug use and related problems, and depressive symptoms with appropriate hospital clinical staff. We will also arrange to send this information, with participants' permission, to their ongoing therapist or treatment program and, if none exists, to the therapist or program to which they are being referred. In this regard, the research assessment protocol serves a dual function of helping with additional monitoring of high-risk patients in addition to providing data for the study.<br>|

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| suicide reattempt | number who reattempt suicide | 6 months |