Implementation of Caring Contacts

Not Applicable

Completed

• Conditions: Psychiatric Hospitalization
• Interventions: Other: Caring Contact

• Registration Number: NCT05294549
• Lead Sponsor: Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre

Brief Summary

This quality improvement (QI) project will adapt and improve an evidence-based suicide-prevention initiative for Sunnybrook patients at high risk of suicide following psychiatric inpatient discharge, targeting one of Sunnybrook's QI Plan goals of reducing suicide at Sunnybrook. Caring Contacts, brief communications of hope, support and information sent to patients post-discharge, are a simple and low-cost intervention with proven effectiveness in reducing suicide attempts, suicidal ideation, and loneliness, while increasing hopefulness and feelings of connection to the health care system. Pilot data provides some initial, promising evidence however additional patient input is required to improve the acceptability and effectiveness of the intervention to reduce suicide-related outcomes. Feedback from patients and peer advisors will guide iterative improvements with the ultimate goal of implementing an improved version of Caring Contacts as a standard clinical practice for all patients discharged from the Sunnybrook Adult Inpatient Psychiatry Unit.

For phase one of this QI project, participants will be patients from the Sunnybrook Inpatient Psychiatry Unit with suicidality and community members with lived experience of psychiatric hospitalization and suicidality. Investigators will conduct focus groups on the inpatient unit of 8-12 inpatient participants to gather feedback about the current Caring Contact intervention. For community members virtual focus groups will be conducted. For phase two, participants will be patients from the Sunnybrook Inpatient Psychiatry Unit with suicidality. The updated intervention will be sent to 8-12 participants. Then investigators will host virtual focus groups to gather feedback from these participants about the intervention. For phase three, participants will be patients from the Sunnybrook Inpatient Psychiatry Unit with suicidality. Investigators will send the revised intervention to 30-40 participants. Participants will complete symptom and feedback questionnaires when they receive the intervention.

Detailed Description

Not available

Study Timeline

• Study First Submitted: 2022-03-07
• Study First Submitted QC: 2022-03-16
• Study First Posted: 2022-03-24
• Study Start: 2022-04-11
• Primary Completion: 2023-05-31
• Study Completion: 2023-05-31
• Status Verified: 2023-07
• Last Update Submitted: 2023-07-07
• Last Update Posted: 2023-07-11

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: COMPLETED
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 28

Inclusion Criteria

1. Provision of written informed consent
2. Age 18 or above
3. Ability to read and understand English
4. Have an email address
5. The ability to understand and comply with the requirements of the project and capable of providing informed consent

For inclusion in the outpatient focus groups participants must additionally have previous lived experience of psychiatric hospitalization with suicidal ideation or behaviour.

For inclusion in the inpatient focus groups during phase one and for inclusion in the second and third phases of the project, participants must additionally 1) be an inpatient on the Sunnybrook Adult Inpatient Psychiatry Unit at the time of recruitment and 2) they must have been admitted to the unit with suicidal ideation or behaviour as determined by their C-SSRS score at admission.

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Exclusion Criteria

• A primary diagnosis of a Major Neurocognitive Disorder

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Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: SINGLE_GROUP

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Caring Contact	Caring Contact	-

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Beck Scale for Suicidal Ideation (BSI)	Baseline, up to 14 days post-discharge	The BSI is a self-report questionnaire with 21 items used to detect and measuring the current intensity of an individual's attitudes, behaviors, and plans to commit suicide during the past week. Total change scores will be used to assess the effectiveness of the intervention.
Feedback questionnaire	Through study completion about 1 year	Feedback questionnaire responses using Likert scales will be quantified and compared as a measure of acceptability of the intervention.
Focus group responses	Through first 3 months of study	Qualitative thematic analyses will be used to evaluate the focus group transcripts.
Hopkins Symptom Checklist-25 (HSCL-25)	Baseline, up to 14 days post-discharge	The HSCL-25 is a widely used self-report questionnaire using a Likert scale to measure mood symptoms. The HSCL-25 has an item for suicidal ideation. Total change scores and suicidal ideation change scores will be used to assess the effectiveness of intervention.; Minimum total score is 25, maximum is 100. A higher score equals a worse outcome.
The Entrapment Scale	Baseline, up to 14 days post-discharge	The Entrapment scale is a 16 item scale used to identify feelings of entrapment, which is a driver for suicidal behaviour. Total change scores will be used to assess the effectiveness of the intervention. Minimum total score is 0, maximum is 80. A higher score equals a worse outcome.

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre; 🇨🇦 Toronto, Ontario, Canada