Clinical Research Directory

Supporting Caregivers Following Mental Health Emergency Department Visits

The investigators plan to conduct a pilot hybrid effectiveness-implementation type 1 randomized controlled trial comparing 3 arms of varying follow-up intervention. Caregivers of youth ages 10-17 who present to the Lurie Children's Hospital ED with suicidal thoughts or behaviors (STBs) and are discharged with a safety plan will be included in the current study. Families will be randomized to receive either 1) treatment as usual, 2) follow-up phone calls, or 3) automatic electronic medical record (EMR) MyChart messages

Refinement of Suicide Risk Management Intervention

Participants will be randomly assigned to 1 of the 4 interventions using a sequential stratified randomization procedure. We will use sex (M, F) and history of suicide attempts (never, 1, and multiple) as our randomization strata. Participants will be assessed before and after the intervention to study the potential effects of each approach on suicide-related clinical outcomes.

Safety Plan in Emergency Department to Prevent Suicidal Attempt Recidive

Suicide is one of the leading causes of death worldwide, with more than 700 000 deaths due to suicide every year, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). In France, mortality rate by suicide is 17% higher than the European average; moreover, around 7% if the population (aged 18-75 years old) attempted suicide in their life. Since years 2000, a series of preventative interventions have been developed to reduce suicide risk, with perhaps the most widely used is suicide safety planning. Several studies showed positive results after evaluating the efficacy of suicide safety planning for reducing patient risk. However, this intervention hasn't been yet evaluated in French emergency department settings. Safety planning is a collaborative intervention between a therapist and the patient, by which a series of preventive actions are planned in the event patient experiences suicide ideation. Patients are provided with a paper form of the completed safety plan, including the following: personal warning signs, self-management strategies, reasons for living, social supports, and crisis supports. In this study, we aim to assess the feasability and the acceptabilty of using the safety plan among patients hospitalised in a short-term unit, after an emergency department admission for suicidal attempt.