Brief Interventions on Social Media to Reduce Suicide Risk (Intervention 2)

NCT06114862 | Withdrawn

• 1 other identifier: IRB19-1260-2
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: N/A
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

This clinical trial is part of a series of brief interventions to reduce suicide risk in collaboration with the social media platform RallyPoint, a site specifically designed for U.S. servicemembers and veterans to connect with one another. This RCT (Intervention 2: Stigma Reduction) is focused on decreasing the stigma associated with sharing one's personal experiences related to mental health on the RallyPoint site. Specifically, the investigators will test the effect of a psychoeducational intervention that will provide participants information on the potential benefits of self-disclosure.

Conditions

Stigma, Social; Mental Health Issue

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (2)

• Number of mental health related posts

  Whether intervention group participants are more likely to post about their personal mental health on RallyPoint after engaging with the intervention (compared to the content of their posts before receiving the intervention), and whether they are more likely to share information on their personal mental health compared with the control group. The investigators may also examine the moderating effects of participants' beliefs about mental health, which will be assessed in the screener survey.

  6 months post intervention

• Engagement with intervention

  Engagement will be measured by how much time participants spend exploring the intervention and how many different reasons are explored in the intervention list.

  During intervention

Study Arms (2)

Control

NO INTERVENTION

Of the individuals identified in the screener survey endorsing past year mental health symptoms, half will be randomized into the control group. The control group will not be contacted. The investigators will passively monitor their posts on RallyPoint for the duration of the study (6 months).

Intervention

EXPERIMENTAL

Of the individuals identified in the screener survey endorsing past year mental health symptoms, half will be randomized into the intervention group. Participants in the intervention group will be recruited using a banner or pop-up message on their RallyPoint homepage or through a message on the RallyPoint site which will ask them if they have time to answer a few questions about their experiences on the RallyPoint site. If participants decline to answer these questions, a message will appear stating that they will be contacted again later, and the investigators will wait several days before contacting the potential participant again. After three attempts, participants will not be re-contacted. Participants' posts on RallyPoint will be passively monitored for 6 months after completing the intervention.

Behavioral: Stigma-reduction intervention

Interventions

Stigma-reduction intervention BEHAVIORAL

Participants will be presented with a list of common reasons why people report not wanting to tell other people about their mental health concerns, drawing from research in this area. Participants will be asked to click on any reason that resonates with them or about which they are interested in learning more. When they click on a particular reason, they will then be presented with psychoeducational information to allay their concerns. For example, if a participant replies that they wouldn't reach out to peers "because others don't understand what I'm going through," we might present context showing that many of their peers have had similar challenges with mental health and have found peer support helpful. Participants will be able to click on as many reasons on this list that they would like to.

Intervention

Eligibility Criteria

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

You may qualify if:

• Active RallyPoint users endorsing any symptoms of depression, anxiety, or suicidal thoughts and behaviors in the past year on a screener questionnaire will be eligible for this intervention.

You may not qualify if:

• RallyPoint users denying depression, anxiety, or suicidal thoughts or behaviors in the past year in the screener survey.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Harvard University: lead

Study Sites (1)

RallyPoint Networks, Inc

Boston, Massachusetts, 02109, United States

Location

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Social Stigma

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Social Behavior; Behavior

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: SINGLE
• Who Masked: PARTICIPANT
• Purpose: PREVENTION
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Professor

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: October 30, 2023
• First Posted: November 2, 2023
• Study Start: October 1, 2024
• Primary Completion: March 14, 2025
• Study Completion: March 14, 2025
• Last Updated: August 13, 2025

Record last verified: 2025-08

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

US (1)