Suicide is the 2nd leading cause of death among adolescents, with the highest risk period for suicide being the month following psychiatric inpatient hospitalization. The investigators propose testing a brief, scalable intervention using evaluative conditioning aimed at reducing suicidal thoughts and behaviors among adolescents during and after inpatient hospitalization. Scalable interventions, such as the one proposed that reduce suicide risk during this markedly high-risk period, could result in large-scale decreases in suicide death.
Be a patient on McLean-Franciscan Child and Adolescent Inpatient Program (MF-CAIP) of Franciscan Children's (FC)
Be 12-19 years-old
Own a smartphone
Have a parent/guardian that can provide permission
Any factor that impairs an individual's ability to comprehend and effectively participate in the study, including
an inability to speak or write English fluently
the presence of gross cognitive impairment due to florid psychosis, intellectual disability, dementia, acute intoxication, etc., or the presence of extremely agitated or violent behavior
a potential discharge location anticipated to be a residential program in which the average length of stay is more than 14 days
Parallel
Therapeutic Evaluative Conditioning
BehavioralParticipants are told which pictures are "matched pairs." They find the "matched pairs" among 4 or 8 pictures. By associating pictures and words associated with SITB (e.g., pictures of cut skin, pictures of people engaging in potentially suicidal behaviors, and the word "death") with naturally aversive images (e.g., snakes and spiders), it increases the aversion to SITB. The second goal is to increase liking toward the self by pairing self-relevant stimuli (e.g., the participant's name or other self-relevant details, as well as words like "I" and "me").
Neutral comparison condition
BehavioralMatch neutral pictures to account for doing an intervention.
Self-injurious thoughts and behaviors
The investigators will assess the presence and frequency of non-suicidal self-injury, suicidal thoughts, suicide plans, suicide attempts and other suicidal behaviors, such as aborted suicide attempts. The investigators will also assess the severity of suicidal thoughts as well.
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Franciscan Hospital For Children, INC.
Lead sponsor
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Collaborator
Harvard University
Collaborator
