RecruitingNot ApplicableNCT05834660

SAFETY-A for Promoting Equity in Suicide Prevention Outcomes in Schools

Sponsor

University of California, Los Angeles

Enrollment

347 participants

Start Date

Nov 1, 2022

Study Type

INTERVENTIONAL

Conditions

Suicidal Ideation

Summary

This study will adapt Safe Alternatives For Teens and Youth - Acute (SAFETY-A) for implementation in low-resourced school districts to reduce racial/ethnic disparities in mental health service use (MHS) following identification of suicide risk in youth. SAFETY-A will be adapted to fit the organizational context of school districts and to reduce mistrust of MHS, internalized stigma, and concealment of youth emotional distress that arise in school suicide risk assessments with Asian American and Latinx students. Following a prototyping case series, a feasibility trial will assign four districts to the timing of SAFETY-A implementation to generate preliminary data on feasibility and impacts on proposed mechanisms and youth MHS utilization and clinical outcomes across racial/ethnic groups.

Eligibility

Min Age: 11 Years

Inclusion Criteria4

Age 11-19
Enrolled in participating school district
Present with suicide thoughts or behavior to school personnel
Have an identified caregiver who can participate in the intervention

Exclusion Criteria2

School personnel determine the student to be at such imminent risk of danger to self that they are unable to benefit from the intervention and must be immediate transported for emergency care.
Student is unable to participate in the intervention due to indications of intellectual disability, psychosis, or intoxication

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Interventions

BEHAVIORALSafe Alternatives for Teens and Youth-Acute for Schools (SAFETY-A for Schools)

SAFETY-A is a brief, family centered, cognitive-behavioral approach to therapeutic risk assessment and safety planning that can be delivered via school-based providers. The intervention is delivered in one session during which the youth at risk for suicidal behavior works with the provider to identify strengths, supports, understand emotional antecedents and warning signs, identify alternative coping behaviors and thoughts, and ways to keep the environment safe. Youth and families receive follow-up contacts by phone at 1, 2, and 4 weeks after the SAFETY-A session. The primary focus is on the therapeutic mechanisms of hope, reduced intensity of suicidal urges, increased confidence in ability to keep safe. Adaptation of SAFETY-A for Schools will target mechanisms that are presumed to drive disparities in mental health service use among Asian American and Latinx youth: (1) trust in mental health services, (2) internalized stigma, and (3) comfort communicating distress.