This is a Hybrid Type I Effectiveness-Implementation design. Specifically, this study proposes to test the effectiveness of STEP in reducing suicidal events and ideation in 216 adolescents, admitted to inpatient psychiatric care due to suicide risk. Participants will be randomized to either STEP or ETAU. STEP involves 4 in-person sessions (3 individual, 1 family) focused on psychoeducation regarding positive and negative affect, mindfulness meditation, gratitude, and savoring. Mood monitoring prompts and skill reminders will be sent daily for the first month post-discharge and three times a week for the following two months. The ETAU condition will receive reminders to log into a safety resource app, matched in frequency to the STEP group. Effectiveness aspects of the design include using clinical staff as interventionists and having very few exclusion criteria.
216 participants and their families (across two sites) will be randomized to either STEP or ETAU (as described in the research strategy). Aims and hypotheses are below: Aim 1: Examine the effectiveness of STEP in reducing suicidal events (attempt or emergency intervention to intercede attempt), active SI (with intent or plan), and depression at 6-month f/u (primary) and suicidal events at 12-month follow-up (f/u). H1: It is hypothesized that those randomized to STEP, compared to ETAU, will have lower rates of suicide events (H1A), active SI (H1B), and depression (H1C) over the 6-month follow-up period; H1D: It is hypothesized that those randomized to STEP, compared to ETAU, will have lower rates of suicidal events at the 12-month, long term f/u. Aim 2: Examine engagement of the hypothesized mechanisms at the 3- and 6-month f/u. It is hypothesized that those randomized to STEP, compared to ETAU, will have: H2A: higher attention to positive affect, assessed by implicit tasks; H2B: higher gratitude and satisfaction with life, assessed by self-report; H2C: lower negative affect, assessed by implicit tasks and self-report. Aim 3: Examine whether hypothesized mechanisms mediate reduction of suicidal events and ideation. H3: Changes in attention to positive affect, gratitude, satisfaction with life, and negative affect at 3-month f/u will be related to improvements in suicidal ideation and suicidal events at the 6-month f/u. Secondary Aim Examine elements supporting external validity. Acceptability, appropriateness, and feasibility of STEP to patients, parents, clinicians, and administrators will be assessed by: 1) a survey consisting of brief, standardized measures of these items, and 2) qualitative interviews to further explore these perceptions. These findings will be used to: 1) modify STEP to address potential barriers, and 2) develop implementation strategies designed to overcome these challenges, for testing in a future Hybrid Type III effectiveness-implementation trial.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
SINGLE
Enrollment
216
Behavioral intervention to increase positive affect
Standard care plus a phone app with a personalized safety plan
Children's Hospital
Boston, Massachusetts, United States
RECRUITINGButler Hospital
Providence, Rhode Island, United States
RECRUITINGBradley Hospital
Riverside, Rhode Island, United States
RECRUITINGSuicidal events
Composite variable of either a suicide attempt or emergency intervention to intercede when suicidal behavior may be imminent; Will be obtained from clinical interviews (C-SSRS; CASA) with the participant and parent(s).
Time frame: baseline; change from baseline at 3 months, 6 months, and 12 months follow-up
Suicidal ideation
Suicide Ideation (SI) will be operationalized as proportion of participants with active SI as assessed by the Columbia Suicide Severity Rating Scale interview: 5 items on suicidal ideation rated yes or no
Time frame: baseline; change from baseline at 3 months, 6 months, and 12 months follow-up
Proportion of Weeks with Suicidal ideation
The proportion of weeks during follow-up with active suicidal ideation as assessed by the Adolescent version of the Longitudinal Interview for Follow-Up Events (A-LIFE) scale (interview based assessment), with the participant.
Time frame: baseline; change from baseline at 3 months, 6 months, and 12 months follow-up
Depression
Depressive symptom severity will be assessed using the Beck Depression Inventory II (BDI-II). The BDI-II will be administered to the adolescent participant and their parent (reporting on the adolescent participant) with scores ranging from 0 to 63 with higher scores reflecting greater depression.
Time frame: baseline; change from baseline at 3 months, 6 months, and 12 months follow-up
Attention to positive affect
Using eye tracking we will measure fixation and overall gaze duration during a dot probe task using emotional and neutral words to determine whether there is a change in attention to positive affect (participant only).
Time frame: baseline; change from baseline at 3 months, 6 months, and 12 months follow-up
Implicit positive and negative affect
Implicit positive affect will be assessed using the Implicit Positive and Negative Affect Test (IPANAT), which is an indirect assessment of automatic activation of affective representations that utilizes artificial words paired with positive and negative words (participant only).
Time frame: baseline; change from baseline at 3 months, 6 months, and 12 months follow-up
Explicit positive and negative affect
Explicit positive affect will be assessed using the Modified Differential Emotions Scale (mDES) which is a 20 item short term self-report of positive and negative emotions administered to the participant only. There are 10 items in the positive affect and 10 items in the negative affect subscales with scores ranging from 0 to 30 for each subscale with higher scores reflecting higher affect.
Time frame: baseline; change from baseline at 3 months, 6 months, and 12 months follow-up
Gratitude
Gratitude will be assessed with the 6 item Gratitude Scale, administered to the participant only. Scores range from 6 to 42 with higher scores indicating greater gratitude.
Time frame: baseline; change from baseline at 3 months, 6 months, and 12 months follow-up
Satisfaction with life scale
5 self-report questions about participant satisfaction with life with scores ranging from 7 to 35 with higher scores indicating higher satisfaction with life.
Time frame: baseline; change from baseline at 3 months, 6 months, and 12 months follow-up
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