A Pilot Evaluation of a Digital Peer Support Intervention for Suicidal Adolescents

NCT06349915 | Recruiting DMC

• 1 other identifier: 2023-15217
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 46
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

Suicide risk has increased among youth in underserved communities, where access to mental healthcare is limited. To address this need, the investigator team plans to evaluate the preliminary efficacy of a brief, low-cost, culturally responsive digital intervention for ethnically diverse youth at risk for suicide in The Bronx, New York. In collaboration with community stakeholders, suicide recovery narratives, featuring adolescents' experiences related to recovery from suicidal thoughts will be developed. A smartphone ecological momentary assessment (EMA) app will be used to evaluate whether a curriculum of these narratives provides anti-suicidal benefits to at-risk adolescents.

Conditions

Suicide

Keywords

digital intervention; community participation; ecological momentary assessment

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Suicidal Thoughts

  Participants will self-report their current subjective intensity of suicidal thoughts using an 11-point Likert-type scale, with higher scores indicating more intense suicidal thoughts.

  5 times per day during 14-day trial

Secondary Outcomes (5)

• Suicidal Urge Resistance

  5 times per day during 14-day trial

• Social Connectedness

  5 times per day during 14-day trial

• Optimism

  5 times per day during 14-day trial

• Social Support

  5 times per day during 14-day trial

• Intervention Acceptability

  Study conclusion (at the end of the 14-day trial)

Other Outcomes (2)

• Emotions

  5 times per day during 14-day trial

• Treatment Readiness

  Baseline (prior to starting the 14-day trail) and study conclusion (at the end of the 14-day trial)

Study Arms (1)

Intervention

EXPERIMENTAL

This is a single-arm study. All participants will be allocated to the intervention arm, in which they will receive the digital narrative therapy.

Behavioral: Supporting Wellbeing with Everyday Experiences of Peers (SWEEP)

Interventions

Supporting Wellbeing with Everyday Experiences of Peers (SWEEP) BEHAVIORAL

Each day during a 14-day trial period, participants will receive one narrative featuring lived experience with and recovery from suicidal thoughts and behaviors. These narratives will be presented in audio and text format via a smartphone app. Participants will also complete self-report surveys assessing study outcomes using the same smartphone app five times per day.

Also known as: SWEEP

Intervention

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 14 Years - 18 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Child (0-17), Adult (18-64)

You may qualify if:

• past-month history of suicidal thoughts
• past-month history of Major depressive disorder
• possession of apple or android smartphone with data plan

You may not qualify if:

• inability to read/write in English
• Active mania
• Active psychosis
• Autism spectrum disorder

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Yeshiva University: collaborator
• American Foundation for Suicide Prevention: collaborator
• Ilumivu: collaborator
• Albert Einstein College of Medicine: lead

Study Sites (1)

Montefiore Health System

The Bronx, New York, 10467, United States

RECRUITING

Related Publications (18)

• Franz PJ, Mou D, Kessler DT, Stubbing J, Jaroszewski AC, Ray S, Cao-Silveira VB, Bachman S, Schuster S, Graupensperger D, Alpert JE, Porath M, Nock MK. Digital bibliotherapy as a scalable intervention for suicidal thoughts: A randomized controlled trial. J Consult Clin Psychol. 2022 Aug;90(8):626-637. doi: 10.1037/ccp0000752.

  PMID: 36066864 BACKGROUND

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 10 leading causes of death, United States. WISQARS Fatal Injury Data Visualization Tool.

  BACKGROUND

• Fox KR, Huang X, Guzman EM, Funsch KM, Cha CB, Ribeiro JD, Franklin JC. Interventions for suicide and self-injury: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials across nearly 50 years of research. Psychol Bull. 2020 Dec;146(12):1117-1145. doi: 10.1037/bul0000305. Epub 2020 Oct 29.

  PMID: 33119344 BACKGROUND

• Alvarez K, Polanco-Roman L, Samuel Breslow A, Molock S. Structural Racism and Suicide Prevention for Ethnoracially Minoritized Youth: A Conceptual Framework and Illustration Across Systems. Am J Psychiatry. 2022 Jun;179(6):422-433. doi: 10.1176/appi.ajp.21101001.

  PMID: 35599542 BACKGROUND

• Bray MJC, Daneshvari NO, Radhakrishnan I, Cubbage J, Eagle M, Southall P, Nestadt PS. Racial Differences in Statewide Suicide Mortality Trends in Maryland During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Pandemic. JAMA Psychiatry. 2021 Apr 1;78(4):444-447. doi: 10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2020.3938.

  PMID: 33325985 BACKGROUND

• Weimerskirch PJ. Benjamin Rush and John Minson Galt, II. Pioneers of bibliotherapy in America. Bull Med Libr Assoc. 1965 Oct;53(4):510-26.

  PMID: 5319266 BACKGROUND

• Stip E, Ostlundh L, Abdel Aziz K. Bibliotherapy: Reading OVID During COVID. Front Psychiatry. 2020 Dec 7;11:567539. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2020.567539. eCollection 2020.

  PMID: 33364987 BACKGROUND

• Evans K, Tyrer P, Catalan J, Schmidt U, Davidson K, Dent J, Tata P, Thornton S, Barber J, Thompson S. Manual-assisted cognitive-behaviour therapy (MACT): a randomized controlled trial of a brief intervention with bibliotherapy in the treatment of recurrent deliberate self-harm. Psychol Med. 1999 Jan;29(1):19-25. doi: 10.1017/s003329179800765x.

  PMID: 10077290 BACKGROUND

• Gualano MR, Bert F, Martorana M, Voglino G, Andriolo V, Thomas R, Gramaglia C, Zeppegno P, Siliquini R. The long-term effects of bibliotherapy in depression treatment: Systematic review of randomized clinical trials. Clin Psychol Rev. 2017 Dec;58:49-58. doi: 10.1016/j.cpr.2017.09.006. Epub 2017 Sep 29.

  PMID: 28993103 BACKGROUND

• Bietti LM, Tilston O, Bangerter A. Storytelling as Adaptive Collective Sensemaking. Top Cogn Sci. 2019 Oct;11(4):710-732. doi: 10.1111/tops.12358. Epub 2018 Jun 28.

  PMID: 29954043 BACKGROUND

• Rennick-Egglestone S, Morgan K, Llewellyn-Beardsley J, Ramsay A, McGranahan R, Gillard S, Hui A, Ng F, Schneider J, Booth S, Pinfold V, Davidson L, Franklin D, Bradstreet S, Arbour S, Slade M. Mental Health Recovery Narratives and Their Impact on Recipients: Systematic Review and Narrative Synthesis. Can J Psychiatry. 2019 Oct;64(10):669-679. doi: 10.1177/0706743719846108. Epub 2019 May 2.

  PMID: 31046432 BACKGROUND

• Van Orden KA, Witte TK, Cukrowicz KC, Braithwaite SR, Selby EA, Joiner TE Jr. The interpersonal theory of suicide. Psychol Rev. 2010 Apr;117(2):575-600. doi: 10.1037/a0018697.

  PMID: 20438238 BACKGROUND

• Joiner T. Why People Die by Suicide. Harvard University Press; 2005.

  BACKGROUND

• Nock MK, Green JG, Hwang I, McLaughlin KA, Sampson NA, Zaslavsky AM, Kessler RC. Prevalence, correlates, and treatment of lifetime suicidal behavior among adolescents: results from the National Comorbidity Survey Replication Adolescent Supplement. JAMA Psychiatry. 2013 Mar;70(3):300-10. doi: 10.1001/2013.jamapsychiatry.55.

  PMID: 23303463 BACKGROUND

• Millner AJ, Lee MD, Nock MK. Describing and Measuring the Pathway to Suicide Attempts: A Preliminary Study. Suicide Life Threat Behav. 2017 Jun;47(3):353-369. doi: 10.1111/sltb.12284. Epub 2016 Aug 1.

  PMID: 27477787 BACKGROUND

• Franklin JC, Ribeiro JD, Fox KR, Bentley KH, Kleiman EM, Huang X, Musacchio KM, Jaroszewski AC, Chang BP, Nock MK. Risk factors for suicidal thoughts and behaviors: A meta-analysis of 50 years of research. Psychol Bull. 2017 Feb;143(2):187-232. doi: 10.1037/bul0000084. Epub 2016 Nov 14.

  PMID: 27841450 BACKGROUND

• Roswarski T, Dunn J. The Role of Help and Hope in Prevention and Early Intervention with Suicidal Adolescents: Implications for Mental Health Counselors. J Ment Health Couns. 2009;31(1):34-46. doi:10.17744/mehc.31.1.u150745762627518

  BACKGROUND

• Franz PJ, Nook EC, Mair P, Nock MK. Using Topic Modeling to Detect and Describe Self-Injurious and Related Content on a Large-Scale Digital Platform. Suicide Life Threat Behav. 2020 Feb;50(1):5-18. doi: 10.1111/sltb.12569. Epub 2019 Jul 2.

  PMID: 31264733 BACKGROUND

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Suicide

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Self-Injurious Behavior; Behavioral Symptoms; Behavior

Study Officials

• Peter J Franz, Ph.D.

  Albert Einstein College of Medicine

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Central Study Contacts

Peter J Franz, Ph.D.

CONTACT

6077278620; peter.franz@einsteinmed.edu

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: NA
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: PREVENTION
• Intervention Model: SINGLE GROUP
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Model Details: The first 6 participants will serve as a brief pilot to validate outcomes and the acceptability of the intervention. The study team may make slight changes to the intervention (e.g., time of day the suicide recovery narratives are administered, or which narratives are presented) before recruiting the remaining 40 participants.

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: April 1, 2024
• First Posted: April 5, 2024
• Study Start: June 1, 2026
• Primary Completion (Estimated): December 1, 2027
• Study Completion (Estimated): December 1, 2027
• Last Updated: June 11, 2026

Record last verified: 2026-06

Locations

US (1)