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Completed

NCT Number: NCT01982773

Virtual Hope Box - Effectiveness of a Smartphone App for Coping With Suicidal Ideation

A hope box or self soothing kit is a therapeutic tool employed by clinicians with patients expressing suicidal ideation, significant distress, or otherwise at risk of suicidal or non-suicidal self harm. A "Virtual Hope Box" (VHB) takes the common hope box practice and uses smartphone features to enhance the experience. The rich multimedia features on a smartphone allow more varied options. Furthermore, these devices are already a common repository for user-generated and user-preferred media, which will allow for a highly personalized VHB that is highly portable and always available to a user in distress. We hypothesize that:

1. Patients in the (VHB) intervention condition will demonstrate pre-post reductions in 1) severity of suicidal ideation 2) ability to cope with stressors and 3) increases in perceived reasons for living 2. Patients in the intervention condition will demonstrate greater pre-post reductions in symptoms of suicidal ideation, ability to cope with stressors, and perceived reasons for living compared to patients in the (ETAU) control condition. 3. Patients and clinicians will find VHB to be beneficial and its use readily integrated into practice.

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Key information

Conditions

Suicidal Ideation Behavior Behavioral Symptoms Coping Self-Injurious Behavior Suicide Thoughts of Self Harm

Age range

18 year and older

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Primary location

Portland VA Medical Center, Portland, Oregon, United States

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About this study

Our overall objective in the proposed study is to assess the impact of a virtual hope-box (VHB) smartphone app on suicidal ideation in veterans undergoing clinical therapy who have recently had suicidal ideation or behavior. We propose to conduct this study in two phases:

Phase 1: Modifying the current VHB-β version of the app to accommodate feedback from pilot study participants. The result will be the VHB V1.0 to be tested in phase 2. This component of the study will be conducted by the T2 group located at Joint Base Lewis-McChord.

Phase 2: Implementing a randomized controlled trial comparing the VHB intervention with enhanced treatment as usual (ETAU) in clinical practice. This component of the study will be conducted at the Portland VA Medical Center.

This research project seeks to answer several essential questions:

  • Can a smartphone app containing the essential components of a hope box and associated elements of CT/DBT (Dialectical Behavioral Therapy) reduce severity of suicidal ideation, and increase perceptions of reasons for living and ability to cope, in a clinical sample of veterans?
  • Is a smartphone VHB app more effective in reducing severity of suicidal ideation, and increasing perceptions of reasons for living and ability to cope, compared to enhanced treatment as usual (ETAU)? In addition, we will gather important information about implementing and integrating VHB as a treatment component in mental health treatment

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: No

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

Inclusion criteria

  • US Service Veterans in active treatment by Portland VA mental health clinicians
  • Patients expressing suicidal ideation, thoughts of suicidal self-harm, or determined to be at "high risk" for suicide by treating clinician or Suicide Prevention Team
  • Patients owning and regularly using/carrying their own iPhone or Android phones
  • Patients identified as clinically suitable by their clinicians for hope box utilization or enhanced treatment as usual (ETAU) as part of treatment

Exclusion criteria

  • Moderate or severe dementia or significant cognitive disturbance as indicated by chart diagnosis of dementia or score of greater than or equal to 10 on the Short Blessed questionnaire during screening
  • Patients considered terminally ill according to documentation in patient records
  • Patients with designated guardians, who are unable to provide consent without the assistance of a legally authorized representative or guardian
  • Patients admitted to inpatient unit

Treatment and study plan

Virtual Hope Box Smartphone App

Behavioral

Smartphone app

Other names: VHB

Enhanced Treatment as Usual

Behavioral

Printed materials

Other names: ETAU

Primary outcomes

  1. Beck Scale for Suicidal Ideation

    Time frame: Baseline

    measures self-report severity of suicidal ideation during the past week using 21 items. Three factors are assessed: desire for death, preparation for suicide and actual suicide desire. This measure assess an individual's thoughts, attitudes and intentions regarding suicide. Scores could range from 0 - 48. The higher the score indicated the greater risk for suicidal ideation.

  2. Beck Scale for Suicidal Ideation

    Time frame: 3 week follow up

    measures self-report severity of suicidal ideation during the past week using 21 items. Three factors are assessed: desire for death, preparation for suicide and actual suicide desire. This measure assess an individual's thoughts, attitudes and intentions regarding suicide. Scores could range from 0 - 48.The higher the score indicated the greater risk for suicidal ideation.

  3. Beck Scale for Suicidal Ideation

    Time frame: 6 week follow up

    measures self-report severity of suicidal ideation during the past week using 21 items. Three factors are assessed: desire for death, preparation for suicide and actual suicide desire. This measure assess an individual's thoughts, attitudes and intentions regarding suicide. Scores could range from 0 - 48.The higher the score indicated the greater risk for suicidal ideation.

  4. Beck Scale for Suicidal Ideation

    Time frame: 12 week follow up

    measures self-report severity of suicidal ideation during the past week using 21 items. Three factors are assessed: desire for death, preparation for suicide and actual suicide desire. This measure assess an individual's thoughts, attitudes and intentions regarding suicide. Scores could range from 0 - 48.The higher the score indicated the greater risk for suicidal ideation.

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

National Center for Telehealth and Technology

Fed

Collaborators

  • Portland VA Medical Center
  • The Geneva Foundation

Registry information

Official study title

Effectiveness of a Virtual Hope Box Smartphone App in Enhancing Veterans' Coping With Suicidal Ideation: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Acronym: VHB-RCT

Important dates

Study start
2014
Primary completion
2016
Study completion
2016
First posted
Nov 13, 2013
Registry last updated
Jan 30, 2018

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.

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