Clinical Research Directory

Psychoeducational Course for Suicide Prevention

The plan is to include patients with a history of increased risk of suicide. In the aftermath of an episode of imminent suicide risk, patients will receive a psychoeducational course that entails information on different aspects of suicide-related topics, identifying triggers and detecting early warning signals for increased suicide risk. The course culminates in working on completing a individual safety plan to prevent an future increase in suicide risk. The course will incorporate both patients and their next of kin. The psychoeducational course will be compared to a control group where the patients receive one individual session with focus on a safety plan to evaluate the intervention. Both groups will receive treatment as usual (TAU) during both the acute phase and follow-up. The study will be conducted as a randomized controlled trial.

HAVEN-Connect Youth Suicide Prevention

HAVEN=CONNECT is a comprehensive depression and suicide prevention intervention that is designed to be integrated into predominantly Black churches, a strategically ideal location for mental health intervention for Black youth. HAVEN=CONNECT has three components: (1) Church Community Engagement: an interactive process of introducing the program to key church leaders and stakeholder groups. (2) Faith-Based Curriculum: educational overview for pastors, other ministerial staff and youth lay leaders on how to integrate the program into the church using communication mediums that have cultural and religious relevance in the Black Church context. (3) Youth-Connect Intervention: The goals of this project are to test the impact of HAVEN=CONNECT (HAVEN) on key intervention targets, hypothesized mediators, and build a research-informed implementation strategy for future large-scale testing.

Adapting a Brief Suicide Intervention for Pediatric Primary Care: Enhancing Uptake and Impact

Suicide is a leading cause of death among adolescents in the United States and improving access to high quality just-in-time suicide interventions to reduce risk has important public health implications. Integrating such interventions into routinely accessed settings, such as pediatric primary care, holds promise; however, many clinicians in these settings fail to adequately screen or intervene in youth suicidal thoughts and behaviors, representing a key barrier to reducing suicide. The proposed study is a pre-post quasi-experimental pilot feasibility and preliminary efficacy trial of a suicide prevention intervention informed by evidence based interventions including the SAFETY-Acute suicide prevention intervention implemented in 3 pediatric primary care clinics.

Caring Contacts Via Text Message for Suicidal Adolescents After Emergency Department Discharge

The goal of this pilot clinical trial is to learn if Caring Contacts (brief, hopeful, supportive text messages) can be delivered to adolescents with suicidal thoughts or behaviors after discharge from the emergency department, and to understand if adolescents find it acceptable to receive Caring Contacts. Researchers will also begin to explore how suicidal thoughts and behaviors change over time among participants who receive Caring Contacts along with treatment as usual, compared to participants who only receive treatment as usual. All participants will be invited to answer survey questions when they first enroll in the study and 1, 3, 6, and 12 months after their emergency department visit. Some participants will receive Caring Contacts (brief, hopeful, supportive text messages) after their emergency department visit. Some participants will be invited to complete an interview about their experiences receiving Caring Contacts.

Preventing Suicidal Behavior With Diverse High-Risk Youth in Acute Care Settings

The study will compare the effectiveness of two relatively brief and scalable evidence-based interventions: the Stanley Brown Safety Planning Intervention and Follow-up Contacts (SPI+), a suicide-specific intervention that helps people prevent suicidal crises from escalating, and Interpersonal Psychotherapy for Adolescents Ultra Short Crisis Intervention (IPT-A SCI), a psychotherapeutic crisis intervention treatment for suicidal adolescents that teaches youth skills to prevent suicidal crises and addresses interpersonal problems that lead to suicidal crises. The results will inform the future standard of care for youth at risk for suicide presenting in the ED setting. This project focuses on suicidal youth ages 12-24 in five ethnically and racially diverse urban areas: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Baltimore, Maryland; Chapel Hill, North Carolina; St. Petersburg, Florida; and Northern Manhattan/lower Bronx/eastern Queens communities in New York City, New York.

Caring Connections Youth Suicide Detection and Intervention Study

The goal of this pilot randomized control trial (RCT) is to test the feasibility of Caring Connections, a Culturally Adapted Linking Individuals Needing Care (CA-LINC) suicide prevention care coordination intervention for high-risk suicidal youth. This consumer-, community-, and theory-driven care coordination intervention is designed to reduce suicide ideation and behavior (SIB) by improving service engagement. Connections is a 90-day intervention that integrates engagement and follow-up strategies to assess/monitor suicide risk, facilitate service use referrals/linkages, develop/refine safety plans, and create villages of care. The intervention incorporates cultural promotive factors, empowerment, and motivational strategies aimed at supporting youth, enhancing strengths, promoting hope, improving family relationships, and reinforcing caring messages. Primary research questions include: Is Caring Connections feasible to use for suicidal high-risk youth? Does Caring Connections have the potential to reduce suicide ideation and behaviors among high-risk suicidal youth? For the pilot RCT, 80 youth participants ages 13-19 who meet the inclusion criteria will be randomly assigned to one of two conditions: Caring Connections (n=40) or Treatment as Usual (n=40). Additionally, investigators will enroll 80 caregivers of youth meeting inclusion criteria and 20 Mental Healthcare, Healthcare Providers, Community Stakeholders, and/or Care Coordinators with experience working with suicidal youth. Researchers will compare those receiving Caring Connections with treatment as usual to see if suicidal ideation and behaviors, and engagement.

Peer Delivered Youth Suicide Prevention in Nepal

South Asia has the highest suicide rate in the world with important risk profile differences from high-income settings. Investigators will conduct formative research to co-design a package of brief interventions and implementation strategies to prevent youth-suicide and then test the package in a pilot feasibility hybrid type 2 cluster randomized controlled trial in Nepal. Potential health impacts may be substantial as results can be applied not only in similar South Asian primary healthcare contexts, but also in low-resource settings in the US and abroad, where the suicide burden remains high. Using experience-based co-design and equity-focused implementation frameworks, this study will assess the feasibility and acceptability of a Youth-focused, Peer-delivered, Family-engaged Suicide Prevention Package (YPF-SuPP) integrated within existing mhGAP services in Nepal's decentralized primary healthcare system. This pilot trial will generate preliminary data to inform the design of a future fully powered effectiveness trial and potential scale-up of youth suicide prevention strategies.

Efficacy-Implementation Study for PC CARES in Rural Alaska

This participatory, pragmatic efficacy-implementation trial evaluates the impact of Promoting Community Conversations About Research to End Suicide (PC CARES) to evaluate Learning Circle (LC) participant outcomes (AIM#1), community-wide diffusion effects, and efficacy by tracking youth impact (AIM#2), while finding sustainable ways to scale PC CARES to other Alaska Native (AN) communities (AIM#3).

Esketamine Versus Crisis Response Planning Versus Optimized Treatment as Usual for Suicide Prevention: A Pragmatic Controlled Trial in Two Brazilian Cities

Suicide is one of the leading causes of early death worldwide. In Brazil, suicide rates have been rising steadily over the past two decades, and most suicides occur in low- and middle-income countries where access to specialized care is limited. There is an urgent need for fast-acting, practical interventions that can be delivered in public emergency settings. Two promising approaches have emerged: esketamine, a medication that can rapidly reduce suicidal thoughts within hours, and Crisis Response Planning (CRP), a brief session in which a trained clinician works with the person to create a personalized written plan for managing future suicidal crises. The goal of this clinical trial is to learn if esketamine or Crisis Response Planning (CRP), each added to enhanced treatment as usual (eTAU), can prevent future suicide-related events compared to eTAU alone in adolescents and adults aged 14 years or older who recently attempted suicide or have severe suicidal thoughts. The main questions it aims to answer are: Does a single esketamine infusion plus eTAU lower the risk of a new suicide-related event compared to eTAU alone over 12 months? Does a single session of Crisis Response Planning plus eTAU lower the risk of a new suicide-related event compared to eTAU alone over 12 months? Which approach leads to faster or more lasting improvements in suicidal thoughts, depression, anxiety, sleep, well-being, hopelessness, and quality of life? Are these interventions feasible, acceptable, and cost-effective within a public health system? Researchers will compare three groups to see which approach works best to prevent suicide attempts, suicide-related hospitalizations, and suicide deaths over one year. A total of 468 participants will be randomly assigned in equal numbers (156 per group) to one of three groups: Esketamine group: receive a single intravenous esketamine infusion (0.50 mg/kg given over 40 minutes) in a monitored medical setting with continuous heart rate, blood pressure, and oxygen monitoring, plus eTAU. A physician will be present throughout. Participants will be observed for up to 24 hours before discharge. Crisis Response Planning group: complete one 20-to-45-minute session with a trained clinician to build a personal crisis plan that includes warning signs, coping strategies, reasons for living, support contacts, and emergency resources. Participants will leave with a written and digital copy of their plan, plus eTAU. Enhanced treatment as usual (eTAU) group: receive standard emergency care, safety counseling about access to lethal means, connection to the local mental health network (including Psychosocial Care Centers and primary care), and a scheduled psychiatric follow-up appointment within 7 days. Participants will: Complete health questionnaires about suicidal thoughts, depression, anxiety, sleep, well-being, hopelessness, and quality of life at 11 time points over one year (at enrollment, 24 hours, 7 days, 2 weeks, 4 weeks, 8 weeks, 16 weeks, 24 weeks, 32 weeks, 40 weeks, and 1 year) Provide a blood sample at the start of the study for exploratory analyses of biological markers that may be related to treatment response Use a smartphone app to report their mood, thoughts, and emotions four times a day for four weeks after enrollment Be monitored for safety and adverse events throughout the entire study period The study takes place in the public emergency network of Indaiatuba, São Paulo, Brazil (population approximately 256,000), and is designed to reflect real-world clinical conditions. Participants who experience a new suicide-related event during the study will be offered an open-label rescue treatment combining esketamine and Crisis Response Planning, and will continue to be followed for the remainder of the year. The study also includes an evaluation of how well these interventions can be adopted and sustained within Brazil's public mental health system, including assessments of acceptability, feasibility, and cost-effectiveness.

Strategic Treatment and Assessment for Youth (STAY)

This multi-method, multi-phase pilot trial is designed to explore initial implementation and effectiveness of a theoretically-driven, culturally-tailored, measurement-based care (MBC) approach, Strategic Treatment Assessment for Youth (STAY), for racial and ethnic minoritized (REM) youth with depressive symptoms or suicidal thoughts and behaviors (STB). STAY offers an innovative, culturally-tailored approach to retain REM youth with depressive symptoms with or without STB in mental health treatment. In this R34 study, the investigators will first refine the STAY clinical protocol and implementation plan, develop STAY instrumentation (STAY, Aim 1), and then pilot test the effectiveness of STAY in three community-based mental health clinics (Aim 2). Aim 2 focuses on testing the protocol through a pilot Hybrid Type 2 trial by comparing clinicians randomly assigned to STAY (intervention condition) as compared to those assigned to the MBC As Usual (active comparison condition). Results from this pilot trial will inform optimal study procedures, measures, and site selection for a subsequent, fully-powered Hybrid Type 2 trial to examine STAY implementation, effectiveness, and scalability.

Virtual Reality Lethal Means Safety Training

The goal of this randomized clinical trial is to determine whether a virtual reality (VR) training program can help healthcare providers improve their skills in discussing suicide prevention and safe storage of firearms and medications with Veterans. The study will test whether VR training increases providers' self-efficacy, confidence, and comfort in conducting lethal means safety counseling, and whether it improves their intention to use these counseling practices in their clinical work. Researchers will compare healthcare providers who complete the VR training to those who complete a 2D video training to determine whether the VR approach is more effective. Participants will complete online surveys before and after the training and again three months later. They will be randomly assigned to one of two groups: VR training group: Participants use a VR headset to interact with a virtual Veteran patient in a simulated rural clinic and practice suicide prevention counseling skills; Video training group: Participants use the same headset to watch a \~10-minute 2D video depicting the lethal means safety counseling session. After the training, participants will also provide feedback about their experience, including how realistic and useful they found the training.

User Evaluation Think Life

This study aims to evaluate user experiences with the online self-help course Think Life, a suicide prevention intervention for individuals experiencing suicidal thoughts. Think Life was developed by the Flemish Centre of Expertise in Suicide Prevention (VLESP) and is freely available via Zelfmoord1813.be. The course was originally developed in 2014 and updated in 2025 to improve its look and feel, usability, and inclusiveness, without fundamental changes to its core content. The researchers seek to better understand how users experience the updated version of Think Life, including perceived strengths, usability, and overall satisfaction with the course. Users of the Think Life self-help course will be invited through a call displayed on the course homepage to voluntarily participate in an online user evaluation study. Interested individuals can access an online informed consent form via a public internet link hosted on REDCap. Participants who provide online informed consent and meet the inclusion criteria will automatically be redirected to the online questionnaire, which is also hosted on REDCap. Approximately 1000 participants aged 18 years or older can be included in this study. Participants are invited to complete a one-time online questionnaire with an estimated completion time of approximately 10 minutes.

Syncing Screening and Services for Suicide Prevention Across Health and Jail Systems

This study aims to harmonize jail release record data with electronic health record data in order to connect patients to an evidence-based suicide prevention and clinical care pathway upon jail release.

Randomized Controlled Effectiveness Trial of VA S.A.V.E.

Veterans are most likely to disclose suicidal thoughts to their close supports such as family and friends. These loved ones are, in turn, very interested in learning how to help a Veteran in need. Close supports are uniquely poised to provide a meaningful contribution to suicide prevention, if they can learn how to effectively promote Veterans' connection to care. VA S.A.V.E. (Signs; Ask; Validate; Encourage) is a suicide prevention gatekeeper training specifically tailored to the Veteran community that teaches close supports how to identify signs of suicide risk and how to connect the at-risk person to professional treatment. The primary objective of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of VA S.A.V.E. and to explore factors impacting its potential widespread implementation.

Integrating the Youth Nominated Support Team (YST) With CBT for Black Youth With Acute Suicide Risk

The investigators are modifying and testing the preliminary effectiveness and implementation of the combination of two psychosocial interventions, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Suicide Prevention (CBT-SP) and the computer-assisted version of the Youth-Nominated Support Team (eYST). This registration will be for Aim 2 and a pilot randomized clinical trial for Aim 3 will be registered separately. In this phase of the study, CBT-SP+eYST will be tested in an initial open trial (number of youth=6) to examine its feasibility and acceptability. Investigators will recruit Black adolescents that come to an urban emergency department (ED) for suicidal thoughts and/or behaviors to receive the intervention in an outpatient community mental health agency. The study focuses on the acute phase of CBT-SP, which is 12 sessions. Participants will nominate up to 4 caring adults in the participants lives to serve as support persons. These support persons will attend an education/orientation session to learn more about their role and how to support the youth. Youth will be assessed at baseline, 6 weeks, and 14 weeks. Parents will be assessed at baseline and 14 weeks. Support persons will be assessed at baseline and 14 weeks. Fidelity assessments will be completed by clinicians after each CBT-SP session, after the YST psycho-ed session, and weekly to document contact with the support team.

Bridge the Gap (BTG) - Black Youth Group

The goal of this clinical trial is to develop and preliminarily test a culturally adapted suicide intervention specifically for black youth. The main question it aims to answer: -To evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of the group, as well as the preliminary efficacy of the group for decreasing suicidal thoughts and behaviors and increasing protective factors such as hope, positive ethnic identity, and family and peer support. Participants will be asked to attend 10-week group intervention and complete pre-treatment and post-treatment assessment measures.

Suicide Prevention After Community Care Discharge

The study is of high importance to Veterans' health because it will study a suicide prevention intervention in a Veteran population that is at high risk of suicide but has not been a specific focus of the Veteran Affairs' (VA's) suicide prevention efforts. Specifically, a growing number of Veterans are now receiving acute mental health treatment in VA-purchased settings (commonly referred to as Community Care). While these Veterans are at high risk of suicide after discharge, very little is known about how to prevent suicide in these Veterans. This study will directly address this problem by looking at whether a promising suicide prevention strategy called the VA Brief Intervention and Contact Program (VA BIC) can decrease the risk of suicide in Veterans after they are discharged from a non-VA mental health treatment setting. The proposed research is highly pertinent to the VA's top clinical priority-to prevent suicide in Veterans.

Development and Preliminary Testing of a "Papageno"-Story Interview Intervention- Aim 3

The purpose of this study is to determine the effects of a short "Papageno story" video of a compilation of interviews on proximal risk factors for suicide. The researchers believe that the intervention may increase protective factors related to suicide.

Feasibility Study of a Combined Intervention for Suicidal Inpatients in Psychiatric Crisis Units.

Since 2014, suicide prevention has been a national priority and is one of the 3 priority areas of the mental health plan's roadmap . Hospitalization offers a crucial opportunity for life-preserving intervention . Brief health interventions and contacts are reputed to be easy to implement, effective and inexpensive . The Hope Box is a practical emotional management tool that aims to encourage the expression of reasons for living by materializing them in a customizable box, filled with objects, photos, writings and memories in order to find comfort and hope . Peer support use their experiential knowledge of disorders and recovery to accompany people and help humanize care . They can play a decisive role in suicide prevention . In contrast to an approach focusing only on risk factors, peer support and the Hope Box are both focus on protective factors, the strengths of the people concerned and hope. The primary objective of this study is to evaluate the feasibility of the HOPAIR intervention (peer-support and Hope Box, completed by a reminder postcard) with suicidal people hospitalized in psychiatric crisis units. Its secondary objective is to assess the potential effectiveness on intensity of hopelessness, sense of self-efficacy, reasons for living, perceived social support and suicidal recurrence at 3 months. This is a mixed-methods study involving 40 patients and 2 peer support in two crisis hospitalization units.

NIMH Clinical Pathway in Rural Appalachian School-based Health Clinics

This study will adapt and evaluate an evidence-based suicide risk screening and follow-up program in two school-based health centers in West Virginia. The suicide screening program is titled the "NIMH Clinical Pathway" and provides tools and procedures for routinely screening adolescents for suicide risk, completing risk assessments, safety planning, lethal means restriction, follow-up referrals, and other disposition planning as appropriate. Investigators aim to do the following: 1. Gather formative data from providers, parents, and youth to inform ways to adapt and implement the NIMH Clinical Pathway so that it can be effectively implemented in rural, Appalachian School-Based Health Centers (SBHCs). 2. Gather preliminary data regarding the feasibility, acceptability, and effectiveness of the adapted intervention.

Suicide Prevention for Substance Using Youth Experiencing Homelessness

Suicide is the leading cause of death among YEH and most youth do not access services that may be available to them. Therefore, this study seeks to address this gap in the research literature with the goal to identify an effective intervention that can be readily adopted by communities that serve these youth. We will test the effects of outreach-worker delivered Cognitive Therapy for Suicide Prevention (CTSP)+Services as Usual (SAU) versus SAU alone on suicidal ideation (primary outcome), substance use and depressive symptoms (secondary outcomes) at 3, 6, 9 and 12- months.

Practice Facilitation to Enhance Implementation of a Pediatric Suicide Prevention Pathway

Suicide in youth is rapidly growing to where it is the second leading cause of death across the United States. Use of available tools have shown the potential to boost primary care providers' (PCPs) detection of suicide risk and confidence and knowledge around addressing it; however, ways that work to address clinic and provider barriers that influence the ongoing implementation of a pathway to manage at-risk patients remain under researched. The proposed study will assess the impact of the investigators Facilitated Suicide Prevention program--which provides support to assist practices in integrating screening, assessment, data analysis and management procedures into routine care through feedback and coaching--on clinic use of the suicide prevention pathway and youth suicide. The project hypothesizes that compared to PCPs in Training Only (TO) practices, those in TO+Practice Facilitation (PF) may rate the care pathway as more able to be carried out and acceptable; demonstrate greater use of the pathway components (screening, risk assessment, safety planning, lethal means safety counseling, referrals and follow-up); demonstrate higher levels of use of the pathway suicide prevention skills ; and report higher levels of confidence putting the care pathway into use. Also we predict that, compared to youth who screen positive for suicide risk and are followed by PCPs in TO practices, those who screen positive and are followed by PCPs in TO+PF practices will be less likely to attempt suicide during the next six months; less likely to have suicidal ideation during the next 6 months; more likely to see a behavioral health provider during the next 6 months; and less likely to be sent to Emergency Departments during the next 6 months .

Co-creation of Tools for Men With Suicidal Thoughts and/or Behavior

The primary objective of this project is to co-create suicide prevention tools for men with suicidal thoughts ensuring these tools are supported by their future users. The researchers will organize up to 10 online or live co-creation meetings of maximum 2 hours each in which men (18 years or older) with a history of suicidal thoughts and/or behavior will help develop tools by providing their needs and feedback. Up to 30 men can participate.

Crisis Interventions for Pediatric Providers - Autism Version

The goal of this clinical trial is to examine the initial feasibility, acceptability, and effectiveness of Crisis Interventions for Pediatric Providers - Autism version (CIPP-A) for providers serving autistic youth in outpatient settings. The main question aims to answer: * Assess whether CIPP-A is feasible and acceptable to providers in development behavioral pediatric clinics? * Assess whether CIPP-A shows initial effectiveness in increasing providers confidence in managing suicide risk in autistic youth? If there is a comparison group: Researchers will compare CIPP-A to general safety planning intervention (SPI) on feasibility, acceptability, and initial effectiveness. Participants will be randomized to receive training in SPI or CIPP-A and complete online surveys and interviews over 6-months to measure feasibility, acceptability, and initial effectiveness.