Brief Online Help-seeking Barrier Reduction Intervention

Not Applicable

Completed

• Conditions: Crisis Intervention; Suicide and Depression
• Interventions: Behavioral: Brief help-seeking barrier reduction intervention

• Registration Number: NCT03633825
• Lead Sponsor: Harvard University

Brief Summary

Objective: Mental illness is a leading cause of disease burden; however, many barriers prevent people from seeking mental health services. Technological innovations may improve the ability to reach under-served populations by overcoming many existing barriers. The investigators evaluated a brief, automated risk assessment and intervention platform designed to increase the use of crisis resources provided to individuals who were online and in crisis. Hypothesis: The investigators hypothesized that individuals assigned to the intervention condition would report using crisis resources at higher rates than individuals in the control condition. Method: Participants, users of the digital mental health app Koko, were randomly assigned to treatment or control conditions upon accessing the app and were included in the study after their posts were identified by machine learning classifiers as signaling a current mental health crisis. Participants in the treatment condition received a brief Barrier Reduction Intervention (BRI) designed to increase the use of crisis service referrals provided on the app. Participants were followed-up several hours later to assess the use of crisis services.

Detailed Description

Not available

Study Timeline

• Study Start: 2017-08-10
• Primary Completion: 2017-09-20
• Study Completion: 2017-09-20
• Study First Submitted: 2018-08-14
• Study First Submitted QC: 2018-08-14
• Study First Posted: 2018-08-16
• Results First Submitted: 2018-08-17
• Results First Submitted QC: 2019-04-16
• Results First Posted: 2019-04-17
• Status Verified: 2023-04
• Last Update Submitted: 2023-04-10
• Last Update Posted: 2023-04-12

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: COMPLETED
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 39450

Inclusion Criteria

• Participants identified as experiencing a mental health crisis by a hybrid human-machine computation system evaluating semantic content of posts made on digital platforms.

Exclusion Criteria

• Participants who were not identified as experiencing a mental health crisis.

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: PARALLEL

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Intervention	Brief help-seeking barrier reduction intervention	-

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Number of Participants Reporting Use of Crisis-referrals	5 hours post intervention	The number participants indicating at follow-up that they used the crisis resources provided to them (e.g., called the suicide crisis hotline)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Number of Participants in the Treatment Versus Control Conditions Reporting Their Experience Using Koko Was "Good"	5 hours post intervention	The number of participants in the treatment versus control conditions reporting that their experience on the Koko digital platform was "good" versus "bad" using a two-option response question.

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Harvard University; 🇺🇸 Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States