Increasing Treatment Seeking Among Suicidal Veterans Calling the Crisis Line

Suicide Clinical Trial

Official title:

Increasing Treatment Seeking Among Suicidal Veterans Calling the Crisis Line

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Completed

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT01771965
• Other study ID #: IIR 11-298
• Status: Completed
• Phase: Phase 2
• First received: December 21, 2012
• Last updated: September 1, 2016
• Start date: October 2014
• Est. completion date: January 2016

Study information

• Verified date: September 2016
• Source: VA Office of Research and Development
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Health authority: United States: Federal Government
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

The goal of this research plan is to test the effectiveness of a brief, cognitive behavioral (CB) intervention to promote behavioral health treatment engagement among at-risk Veterans who call the Crisis Line but are resistant to behavioral health services.

Description:

The goal of this research plan is to test the effectiveness of a brief, cognitive behavioral (CB) intervention to promote behavioral health treatment engagement among at-risk Veterans who call the Crisis Line but are resistant to behavioral health services. This randomized controlled trial will recruit 80 Veterans who report current suicidal ideation at the time of the Crisis Line call and are resistant to seeking behavioral health treatment. Half of the participants will receive the brief, individualized CB intervention and half will receive standardized procedures from VA's Crisis Line (i.e., usual care). The effectiveness of the intervention will be tested on 1) attitudes toward behavioral health treatment rates, and 2) initiation of and adherence to treatment (assessed by the number of sessions attended). The investigators will also assess the impact of the intervention on suicidal ideation (SI) and explore the impact on the most common symptoms observed in Veteran suicide decedents (e.g., depression).

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Completed
• Enrollment: 80
• Est. completion date: January 2016
• Est. primary completion date: January 2016
• Accepts healthy volunteers: No
• Gender: Both
• Age group: 18 Years and older

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

Inclusion criteria for the study are as follows:

• individuals 18 and older who call the Veteran Crisis Line

• have a phone number where they can be reached, be it a land line or a cell phone

• deemed by the Crisis Line responder to be at risk for suicide, but not imminent risk

• refuse a referral to the SPC or to a behavioral health treatment provider during the call

• report current suicidal ideation (SI) during the call based on administration of a standard item

• have not been in behavioral health treatment in the past. Presence of SI will be subsequently confirmed by the research assistant using the Columbia Suicide Severity Rating Scale, a validated instrument.

Exclusion Criteria:

Exclusion criteria are being judged by the Crisis Line responder to show:

• debilitating cognitive impairment

• active psychosis or mania

• acute alcohol or drug intoxication

Study Design

Allocation: Randomized, Endpoint Classification: Efficacy Study, Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment, Masking: Open Label, Primary Purpose: Health Services Research

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Suicide

Intervention

Behavioral:
• CB Intervention
The Cognitive Behavioral (CB) intervention is a brief, manualized, tailored one-on-one single session lasting 45-60 minutes and administered by phone. An individual format was chosen to reduce the potential discomfort of stigma of individual concerns in the presence of others. The intervention targets a change in the beliefs that influence whether or not someone enters mental health or substance use treatment. During the session, participants will be given a brief introduction to CBT and informed that CBT is based on the theory that cognitions (i.e., thoughts/beliefs), feelings and behaviors all interact with each other;101, 102 therefore, thoughts about certain situations or things influence behavior. Since thoughts are modifiable, changing thoughts about situations may change behavior.

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
United States	Canandaigua VA Medical Center, Canandaigua, NY	Canandaigua	New York
United States	White River Junction VA Medical Center, White River Junction, VT	White River Junction	South Carolina

Sponsors (1)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
VA Office of Research and Development

Country where clinical trial is conducted

United States, 

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Change in treatment engagement (number of participants entering treatment)	The investigators will be asking about service utilization since baseline interview. Zero = no mental health treatment and 1 = received mental health treatment.	30 and 60 days after baseline	No