Are Caring Letters from other Veterans or counselors more effective at preventing suicide attempts in US military Veterans who have contacted the Veterans Crisis Line?

Not Applicable

• Conditions: Suicide prevention in US Veterans; Mental and Behavioural Disorders

• Registration Number: ISRCTN27551361
• Lead Sponsor: Veterans Crisis Line

Brief Summary

2024 Results article in https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38683611/ (added 01/05/2024)

Detailed Description

Not available

Study Timeline

• Study Start: 2020-05-15
• Last Update Posted: 18 June 2024
• Study Completion: 2024-09-30

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: Ongoing
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 102365

Inclusion Criteria

Current inclusion criteria as of 09/02/2022:
Participants will be included if they call the Veterans Crisis Line during the recruitment period (11/06/2020 – 10/06/2021) and:
1. Are an identifiable VCL contact (i.e., not an anonymous contact)
2. Have a valid mailing address on file with the VA
3. Are contacting VCL about themselves (i.e., not contacting VCL about a loved one)
All Veterans who complete the initial intervention and contact the VCL again will be considered for the additional Caring Letters.
All Veteran age ranges and genders will be included.

Previous inclusion criteria:
Participants will be included if they call the Veterans Crisis Line during the recruitment period (estimated to be 6/1/2020 – 5/30/2022) and:
1. Are an identifiable VCL caller (i.e. not an anonymous caller)
2. Have a valid mailing address on file with the VA
3. Are calling about themselves (i.e. not calling about a loved one)
All veteran age ranges and genders will be included.

Exclusion Criteria

Current exclusion criteria as of 09/02/2022:
1. No fixed valid mailing address available in VA records
2. Not identifiable (e.g., full SSN not known; last 4 digits of the SSN and name not available)
3. Not a Veteran (e.g., someone calling on behalf of a Veteran)
4. Has not received Veterans Health Administration (VHA) care

Previous exclusion criteria:
1. No fixed valid mailing address available in VA records
2. Not identifiable (e.g. full SSN not known; last 4 digits of the SNN and name not available)
3. Not a veteran (e.g. someone calling on behalf of a veteran)
4. Has not received Veterans Health Administration (VHA) care
5. The intervention is thought to be counter-productive to clinical goals (e.g. poor boundaries with VCL staff)

Study & Design

• Study Type: Interventional
• Study Design: Not specified