Skip to main content
OpenTrials
Completed

NCT Number: NCT06100575

Tool for Sibling and Children of Someone With Suicidal Thoughts

This study aims to investigate to what extent a website developed for siblings and children (16-25 years old) of someone with suicidal thoughts and/or behaviors is effective in improving perceived pressure, knowledge, attitudes, self-confidence and hopelessness. Moreover, it aims to examine how participants evaluate the website.

Completed

Looking for future studies?

Notify Me

Key information

Conditions

Suicide Behavior Behavioral Symptoms Self-Injurious Behavior

Age range

16 year–25 year

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Primary location

Flemish Centre of Expertise in Suicide Prevention, Ghent University

Ghent, 9000, Belgium

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: Yes

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

Inclusion criteria

  • Siblings and children of someone who has suicidal thoughts and/or behavior
  • 16-25 years old
  • Have access to internet
  • Speak Dutch

Exclusion criteria

  • /

Treatment and study plan

Website (www.mee-leven.be)

Behavioral

The tool is a website aimed siblings and children of someone who has suicidal thoughts and/or behaviors. The intended objectives of the tool are 1) to contribute to knowledge about suicide and health care options, 2) to increase perceived competences in dealing with suicidality of a family member, 3) to reduce perceived pressure and negative feelings such as hopelessness and 4) to be accessible and user-friendly.

These objectives are achieved by providing the following content: 1) concerning the sibling/child themselves (primary objective) : information about the potential impact of having a suicidal family member, own needs, informal and formal (self) care, dealing with the suicidal family member, dealing with other family members 2) concerning the suicidal family member (Secondary objective): information about the suicidal process, signal recognition, how to provide support/create a safe environment for suicidal loved ones , help available for suicidal relatives

Primary outcomes

  1. Changes in self-efficacy: Gatekeeper Self-Efficacy Scale (Takahashi et al., 2020)

    Time frame: Change from Baseline (before intervention) to post-test (after 3 days of access to website)

    The Gatekeeper Self-Efficacy Scale is a 9-item self-report scale to be scored on a 7-point Likert scale (1= not at all to 5 = Extremely) to measure participants' self efficacy in dealing with suicidal individuals. Higher scores indicate higher self-efficacy.

Secondary outcomes

  1. Changes in perceived pressure: Perceived pressure informal care ('Ervaren druk informele zorg', Pot et al., 1995)

    Time frame: Change from Baseline (before intervention) to post-test (after 3 days of access to website)

    The Perceived pressure informal care ('Ervaren druk informele zorg', Pot et al., 1995) scale is a 9-item self-report scale. Participants rate items to be applicable to them with the options: 'No!', 'No', 'More or less', 'Yes', 'Yes!', where 'No' and 'No!' are scored as 0 and the other options as 1. Total scores of 0-3 indicate little pressure, 4-6 moderate and 7-9 a lot.

  2. Changes in attitudes: 5 subscales of Attitudes Towards Suicide Scale (Rensberg & Jacobson, 2003; De Clerck et al., 2006)

    Time frame: Change from Baseline (before intervention) to post-test (after 3 days of access to website)

    The ATTS is a 37-item to be scored on a 5-point Likert scale (1= disagree completely to 5 = agree completely) to measure participants' attitudes towards suicide. The included subscales in this study are: incomprehensibility, non-communication, preventability, tabooing, preparedness to prevent

  3. Changes in hopelessness: Beck Hopelessness Scale (4-item version; Beck et al., 1974; Aish & Wasserman, 2001) and self-developed questionnaire

    Time frame: Change from Baseline (before intervention) to post-test (after 3 days of access to website)

    The BHS A 4-item self-report questionnaire to measure hopelessness in adolescents and adults. Each item is rated as 'true' (score = 1) or 'false' (score = 0) for them over the past week, resulting in a total score ranging from 0 to 4, with higher scores indicating higher levels of hopelessness.

    Self-developed questionnaire: 4-item self-report questionnaire to measure hopelessness in relation to the loved one, based on the BHS 4-item version. Each item is rated as 'true' (score = 1) or 'false' (score = 0) for them over the past week, resulting in a total score ranging from 0 to 4, with higher scores indicating higher levels of hopelessness in relation to the loved one.

  4. Changes in self-care and awareness

    Time frame: Change from Baseline (before intervention) to post-test (after 3 days of access to website)

    Self-developed questionnaire consisting of 5 statements to be rated on a 5-point Likert scale, with 1=strongly disagree and 5=strongly agree. Higher scores indicate higher levels of self-care and awareness.

  5. Evaluation of the website

    Time frame: post-test (after 3 days of access to website)

    18 statements about the content, structure and effect of the website to be rated on a 5-point Likert scale (1= strongly disagree, 5= strongly agree) 4 open questions: "Which part of the website benefited you the most and why?"; "Which part of the website benefited you the least and why?"; "What can be improved on the website?" "Would you like to say anything else about the website?" Participants were asked to rate the website on a scale of 1-10

Other outcomes

  1. Socio-demographic characteristics

    Time frame: Baseline

    age (continuous), gender (man, woman, other), previous health care (yes/no; categories 'professional healthcare provider', 'suicide prevention helpline', 'other'), needed health care (yes/no)

  2. Characteristics of the suicidal family member

    Time frame: Baseline

    relationship to participant (parent, sibling), previous thoughts and/or attempts (never, sometimes, regularly, n/a; as estimated by the participant), age (continuous), gender (man, woman, other)

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

University Ghent

Other

Registry information

Official study title

A Tool for Siblings and Children of Someone With Suicidal Thoughts and/or Behaviors: Evaluation.

Important dates

Study start
2023
Primary completion
2024
Study completion
2024
First posted
Oct 25, 2023
Registry last updated
Feb 6, 2024

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

Related clinical trials

Published trials that share one or more normalized conditions with this study.