HAVEN-Connect Youth Suicide Prevention

ConditionSuicide Prevention

Trial statusRecruiting

Trial phaseNot applicable

Trial typeInterventional

Biological sexAll

Age13-19

SponsorGeorge Washington University

About this trial

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.

Eligibility criteria

This trial accepts healthy volunteers

Qualifiers

75% of members self-identify as Black or African American,

75% are fluent in English.

Disqualifiers

self-identify as Black/African American,

13-19 years old, are fluent in English

25%+ of members self-identify as non-Black or African American

25%+ are not fluent in English.

Trial design

Design model

Parallel

Treatments tested in this trial

HAVEN-Connect
Behavioral
Youth-Connect Program for adolescents/emerging adults and Connect training for adult members is a strength-based network health depression and suicide prevention program. Participants learn together about and model skills to each other to grow and sustain "Four Cores" supportive of mental health and reduced likelihood of vulnerability to suicidal thoughts: (1) Healthy relationships and accountability spanning friendship, community and family relationships (Kinship); (2) Meaning and value in life (Purpose); (3) Informal and formal help-seeking (Guidance); and (4) Activities that give strength and balance emotions (Balance). Modules include self-assessment of strength areas, needs and using Four Cores to manage challenging emotions. Group skill-building activities identify strengths of all members, and members learn how a strong network supports all members' well-being. The training uses active learning including high energy activities and peer-to-peer teaching.
HAVEN Suicide Prevention
Behavioral
Connect was developed to extend Sources of Strength, an evidence-based suicide prevention program that trains key opinion leaders to disseminate a model of healthy coping to peers, which has been implemented in over 80 secondary schools in New York State. Connect uses a multiple-session group training to build suicide protection at individual and group levels. The first version, Wingman-Connect was developed for young Air Force personnel in training (20% Black or multiracial).

Treatment groups

240 Participants

are divided into 2 treatment groups

Group A: HAVEN Intervention GroupExperimental treatment 1 intervention

Group B: HAVEN Wait List Control GroupPlacebo comparator 1 intervention

Trial outcomes

Primary outcomes

Kiddie-Computerized Adaptive Testing for Mental Disorders

Measures depressive symptoms and suicide risk; it asks fewer questions than traditional suicide screeners because it is response adaptive. Instead of fixing the items and allowing the precision of measurement to vary, the authors fix the precision of measurement and allow the items to vary. The K-CAT adaptively selects a small set of items from a large item-bank of 2,120 items, using a 4-point Likert scale (Strongly Agree, Agree, Disagree, Strongly Disagree). The results yield four metrics: 1) a severity score ranging from 0 - 100, with 0 representing the lowest severity, and 100 representing the highest severity. The prompt for each question is: "In the past two weeks..." Sample items include: "I felt worthless" I felt everyone would be better off without me" .

Time frame

baseline, 1- and 6-month followup

Secondary outcomes

Kiddie-Computerized Adaptive Testing for Mental Disorders.

Description: Measures anxiety symptoms. it asks fewer questions than traditional suicide screeners because it is response adaptive. Instead of fixing the items and allowing the precision of measurement to vary, the authors fix the precision of measurement and allow the items to vary. The K-CAT adaptively selects a small set of items from a large item-bank of 2,120 items, using a 4-point Likert scale (Strongly Agree, Agree, Disagree, Strongly Disagree). The prompt for each question is: "In the past two weeks..." Sample items include: I worried more than I needed to I felt uneasy much of the time It is hard for me to relax My worries overwhelmed me

Time frame

baseline, 1- and 6-month followup

Other outcomes

Demographic Questionnaire

Measures demographic characteristics of sample (e.g., age, race, gender, gender identity, GPA, etc.). Will be used to describe characteristics of sample and to ascertain if demographic groups respond differently to the prevention program (e.g.., age or gender differences in response to the program.

Time frame

baseline

General Training Satisfaction Questionnaire

Adult participants receive a brief set of questions to assess general satisfaction. with the program, n of items = 3. measured on a Likert scale: (0 = not at all - 3 = very much) score range = 0-9 with high scores interpreted as being high training satisfaction.

Time frame

baseline (immediately following training

Retention of Skills Questionnaire

Adult participants will receive a brief set of questions to assess perceptions of the training, retention and adoption of training information, and use of concepts in life. n of items = 7. measured on a dichotomous scale: (0 = false, 1 = True) score range = 0-7 with high scores interpreted as high retention of skills learned from the prevention program.

Time frame

baseline (immediately after training), 3-month follow-up

Intention to use HAVEN-Connect Skills Questionnaire

Assess perceptions of intention to use the skills learned in the HAVEN prevention program. n of items = 7, measured on a Likert scale: (0 = strongly disagree to 100 = strongly agree). score range = 0-100 (calculate the mean score), with high scores interpreted as having high intentions to use newly acquired skills gained from the training sessions.

Time frame

baseline (immediately after training), 3-month follow-up