Virtual Hope Box - Effectiveness of a Smartphone App for Coping With Suicidal Ideation

NCT01982773 | Completed Results

• 2 other identifiers: 001-W81XWH-10-2-01781334
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 118
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 2

Brief Summary

A hope box or self soothing kit is a therapeutic tool employed by clinicians with patients expressing suicidal ideation, significant distress, or otherwise at risk of suicidal or non-suicidal self harm. A "Virtual Hope Box" (VHB) takes the common hope box practice and uses smartphone features to enhance the experience. The rich multimedia features on a smartphone allow more varied options. Furthermore, these devices are already a common repository for user-generated and user-preferred media, which will allow for a highly personalized VHB that is highly portable and always available to a user in distress. We hypothesize that:

1. 1.Patients in the (VHB) intervention condition will demonstrate pre-post reductions in 1) severity of suicidal ideation 2) ability to cope with stressors and 3) increases in perceived reasons for living
2. 2.Patients in the intervention condition will demonstrate greater pre-post reductions in symptoms of suicidal ideation, ability to cope with stressors, and perceived reasons for living compared to patients in the (ETAU) control condition.
3. 3.Patients and clinicians will find VHB to be beneficial and its use readily integrated into practice.

Conditions

Suicidal Ideation; Thoughts of Self Harm; Coping

Keywords

Virtual Hope Box

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (4)

• Beck Scale for Suicidal Ideation

  measures self-report severity of suicidal ideation during the past week using 21 items. Three factors are assessed: desire for death, preparation for suicide and actual suicide desire. This measure assess an individual's thoughts, attitudes and intentions regarding suicide. Scores could range from 0 - 48. The higher the score indicated the greater risk for suicidal ideation.

  Baseline

• Beck Scale for Suicidal Ideation

  measures self-report severity of suicidal ideation during the past week using 21 items. Three factors are assessed: desire for death, preparation for suicide and actual suicide desire. This measure assess an individual's thoughts, attitudes and intentions regarding suicide. Scores could range from 0 - 48.The higher the score indicated the greater risk for suicidal ideation.

  3 week follow up

• Beck Scale for Suicidal Ideation

  measures self-report severity of suicidal ideation during the past week using 21 items. Three factors are assessed: desire for death, preparation for suicide and actual suicide desire. This measure assess an individual's thoughts, attitudes and intentions regarding suicide. Scores could range from 0 - 48.The higher the score indicated the greater risk for suicidal ideation.

  6 week follow up

• Beck Scale for Suicidal Ideation

  measures self-report severity of suicidal ideation during the past week using 21 items. Three factors are assessed: desire for death, preparation for suicide and actual suicide desire. This measure assess an individual's thoughts, attitudes and intentions regarding suicide. Scores could range from 0 - 48.The higher the score indicated the greater risk for suicidal ideation.

  12 week follow up

Study Arms (2)

Virtual Hope Box Smartphone App

EXPERIMENTAL

Use of the smartphone app, Virtual Hope Box on their personal smartphone

Behavioral: Virtual Hope Box Smartphone App

EnhancedTreatment As Usual

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

Subjects will be issued printed materials guiding them in coping with suicidal thoughts, which include information about coping strategies and emergency contact information.

Behavioral: Enhanced Treatment as Usual

Interventions

Virtual Hope Box Smartphone App BEHAVIORAL

Smartphone app

Also known as: VHB

Virtual Hope Box Smartphone App

Enhanced Treatment as Usual BEHAVIORAL

Printed materials

Also known as: ETAU

EnhancedTreatment As Usual

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• US Service Veterans in active treatment by Portland VA mental health clinicians
• Patients expressing suicidal ideation, thoughts of suicidal self-harm, or determined to be at "high risk" for suicide by treating clinician or Suicide Prevention Team
• Patients owning and regularly using/carrying their own iPhone or Android phones
• Patients identified as clinically suitable by their clinicians for hope box utilization or enhanced treatment as usual (ETAU) as part of treatment

You may not qualify if:

• Moderate or severe dementia or significant cognitive disturbance as indicated by chart diagnosis of dementia or score of greater than or equal to 10 on the Short Blessed questionnaire during screening
• Patients considered terminally ill according to documentation in patient records
• Patients with designated guardians, who are unable to provide consent without the assistance of a legally authorized representative or guardian
• Patients admitted to inpatient unit

Sponsors & Collaborators

• National Center for Telehealth and Technology: lead
• The Geneva Foundation: collaborator
• Portland VA Medical Center: collaborator

Study Sites (2)

Portland VA Medical Center

Portland, Oregon, 97239, United States

Location

National Center for Telehealth and Technology

Tacoma, Washington, 98431, United States

Location

Related Publications (27)

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• Kemp J, Bossarte RM. Suicide Data Report, 2012: Department of Veterans Affairs, Mental Health Services, Suicide Prevention Program; 2012

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• National Violent Death Reporting System. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention http://www.cdc.gov/ViolencePrevention/NVDRS/index.html, 2009

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• Congressional testimony of hearing on veteran suicide prevention by panel of experts from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs before the U.S. House Veterans' Affairs Subcommittee on Health December 2.2011. U.S. House Veterans' Affairs Subcommittee on Health 2011

  BACKGROUND

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  PMID: 16938149 BACKGROUND

• Holma KM, Melartin TK, Haukka J, Holma IA, Sokero TP, Isometsa ET. Incidence and predictors of suicide attempts in DSM-IV major depressive disorder: a five-year prospective study. Am J Psychiatry. 2010 Jul;167(7):801-8. doi: 10.1176/appi.ajp.2010.09050627. Epub 2010 May 17.

  PMID: 20478879 BACKGROUND

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• Oldham J. PTSD and Suicide. J Psychiatr Pract. 2008 Jul;14(4):195. doi: 10.1097/01.pra.0000327308.50787.45. No abstract available.

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• Linehan MM. Suicide intervention research: a field in desperate need of development. Suicide Life Threat Behav. 2008 Oct;38(5):483-5. doi: 10.1521/suli.2008.38.5.483. No abstract available.

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• Rudd MD, Joiner TE, Jobes DA, King CA. The outpatient treatment of suicidality: An integration of science and recognition of its limitations. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice. 1999; 437-446.

  BACKGROUND

• Beck AT. The current state of cognitive therapy: a 40-year retrospective. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2005 Sep;62(9):953-9. doi: 10.1001/archpsyc.62.9.953.

  PMID: 16143727 BACKGROUND

• Linehan MM, Comtois KA, Brown MZ, Heard HL, Wagner A. Suicide Attempt Self-Injury Interview (SASII): development, reliability, and validity of a scale to assess suicide attempts and intentional self-injury. Psychol Assess. 2006 Sep;18(3):303-12. doi: 10.1037/1040-3590.18.3.303.

  PMID: 16953733 BACKGROUND

• O'Neil ME, Peterson K, Low A, et al. Suicide Prevention Interventions and Referral/Follow Up Services: A Systematic Review. Portland, OR: Evidence-based Synthesis Program (ESP) Center Portland VA Medical Center; March 2012 2012.

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  BACKGROUND

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Suicidal Ideation

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Suicide; Self-Injurious Behavior; Behavioral Symptoms; Behavior

Results Point of Contact

• Title: Nigel E. Bush, PhD
• Organization: National Center for Telehealth and Technology

nigel.e.bush.civ@mail.mil

253-968-4153

Study Officials

• Nigel E Bush, PhD

  National Center for Telehealth and Technology

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

• Steven K Dobscha, MD

  Portland VA Medical Center

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Publication Agreements

• PI is Sponsor Employee: No
• Restrictive Agreement: No

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: SUPPORTIVE CARE
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: FED
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: November 6, 2013
• First Posted: November 13, 2013
• Study Start: March 1, 2014
• Primary Completion: April 1, 2016
• Study Completion: April 1, 2016
• Last Updated: January 30, 2018
• Results First Posted: January 30, 2018

Record last verified: 2017-07

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

US (2)