Motivational Interviewing to Prevent Suicide in High Risk Veterans

Veterans who receive health care from the VA are at elevated risk for suicide, and the number of Veterans at high risk may be growing. Although the months following discharge from psychiatric hospitalization are a period of acute risk for Veterans, there is a dearth of empirically supported treatments tailored to psychiatric inpatients and no studies examining treatments for psychiatrically hospitalized Veterans. This randomized controlled trial will test the efficacy of an adaptation of Motivational Interviewing to Address Suicidal Ideation (MI-SI) on the severity of suicidal ideation in psychiatrically hospitalized Veterans at high risk for suicide. Participants will be recruited from the Acute Psychiatric Inpatient Unit at the Syracuse VA Medical Center. To meet high-risk criteria, Veterans must score over two on the Scale for Suicidal Ideation (SSI), which is prospectively predictive of death by suicide. Participants will complete a screening assessment to confirm eligibility and a baseline assessment of risk factors for suicide. They will be randomized to receive Motivational Interviewing to Address Suicidal Ideation (MI-SI) or a revised version (MI-SI-R) plus treatment as usual (TAU), or TAU alone. The MI-SI groups will receive two sessions of MI-SI during hospitalization and one telephone booster session after discharge. Participants in all conditions will be asked to complete telephone follow-up interviews at 1, 3, and 6 months after discharge. Change in the severity of suicidal ideation will be measured using the SSI.

Inclusion criteria

• Veteran status,
• admitted to psychiatric inpatient unit,
• age 18 and over,
• English speaking,
• able to understand the study and provide informed consent,
• clinically cleared to participate by unit staff,
• receive health care from a VHA facility in upstate New York
• at increased risk for suicide (Scale for Suicidal Ideation [SSI] > 2)

Exclusion criteria

• current psychosis,
• current mania,
• dementia,
• prisoner status,
• being inaccessible
• being discharged from the unit less than 48 hours after being identified by study staff