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Clinical Trials/NCT05558332
NCT05558332
Active, not recruiting
Not Applicable

Youth Nominated Support Team for Suicidal Adolescents at Clinical High Risk for Psychosis

University of California, Irvine1 site in 1 country70 target enrollmentMarch 12, 2025

Overview

Phase
Not Applicable
Intervention
Youth-Nominated Support Teams for CHR
Conditions
Psychosis
Sponsor
University of California, Irvine
Enrollment
70
Locations
1
Primary Endpoint
Social Connectedness
Status
Active, not recruiting
Last Updated
18 days ago

Overview

Brief Summary

This study aims to adapt the current Youth-Nominated Support Team (YST) manual used to treat suicide risk for people at clinical high risk for psychosis.

Detailed Description

Psychotic disorders are characterized by high rates of suicidal ideation and behavior, and the risk for suicide appears to be greatest during the earliest stages of psychosis. A recent meta-analysis showed that the majority of youth at clinical high-risk (CHR) for psychosis experience suicidal ideation, and that approximately one in five make at least one suicide attempt. There are, however, no suicide prevention interventions specifically tailored to the needs of transition-aged youth at CHR, and no current best practice guidelines for how to respond to suicide risk in this population. The Youth-Nominated Support Team (YST) intervention has recently been shown to reduce mortality among adolescents and is potentially highly adaptable within the context of existing CHR services. YST is intended as an adjunctive treatment and is primarily delivered towards support persons rather than the youth themselves, and therefore would not interfere or overlap with the already extensive direct services provided in CHR treatment settings. The proposed project intends to adapt the YST intervention for CHR populations. Specifically, the investigators aim to: (1) adapt YST for CHR based on stakeholder input (i.e., clients, family/friends, clinicians) and to develop a new treatment manual and submit an additional IRB to cover the next two aims -- (2) to implement YST in a single CHR clinic and to revise the intervention based on input from clients, providers, and support person and (3) conduct a pilot randomized clinical trial at four SAMHSA funded CHR sites to test the efficacy of the adapted YST intervention and to identify underlying mechanisms of change. The investigators hypothesize that the revised intervention will be superior to existing practice for the reduction of suicidal ideation and behavior.

Registry
clinicaltrials.gov
Start Date
March 12, 2025
End Date
November 1, 2026
Last Updated
18 days ago
Study Type
Interventional
Study Design
Parallel
Sex
All

Investigators

Responsible Party
Principal Investigator
Principal Investigator

Jason Eric Schiffman

Director of Clinical Training

University of California, Irvine

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

  • A person with suicidal ideation in the past 3 months or suicidal attempt in the past year
  • A person who is receiving or has received treatment for psychosis risk symptoms
  • Between the ages of 12-25

Exclusion Criteria

  • Cannot have participated in the first 2 phases of the study (focus groups and adaption of the YST-CHR manual)

Arms & Interventions

YST-CHR Group

This group will recieve the new adapted YST treatment (YST-CHR). Clinicians will administer this treatment. Neither group will be blind.

Intervention: Youth-Nominated Support Teams for CHR

Treatment as usual

This group will receive their usual therapy/treatment as usual.

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Social Connectedness

Time Frame: 3-months after intervention

Connectedness will be measured with the 5-item Thwarted Belongingness subscale of the Interpersonal Needs Questionnaire. Scores range from 15-105 and a higher score indicates lower social connectedness.

Increased Hope

Time Frame: 3-months after intervention

Hopelessness will be measured with the 4-item Beck Hopelessness Scale (BHS). Hopelessness may be a very sensitive indicator of subsequent suicide risk, particularly among youth with psychosis. The total BHS score is a sum of item responses from 0 to 20 such that higher scores reflect higher levels of hopelessness. Scores greater than 14 identify severe hopelessness.

Treatment Engagement

Time Frame: 3-months after intervention

This will be measured using clinic records of appointment attendance to determine number of therapy sessions attended.

Secondary Outcomes

  • Severity and Intensity of Suicidal Ideation(baseline, 6 weeks after intervention, and 3 months after intervention)
  • Severity and Intensity of Suicidal Ideation(Baseline, 6 weeks after intervention, and 3 months after intervention)

Study Sites (1)

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