Mobile Phone Intervention to Reduce Youth Suicide in Rural Communities

The goal of this research project is to conduct a pilot RCT of Text4Strength, an interactive automated text messaging extension of Sources of Strength (SoS), a universal school-based suicide prevention program that prepares diverse 'key opinion leaders' to conduct public health messaging and activities with peers to increase school-wide positive coping norms, communication with trusted adults, and seeking help for suicidal peers (Wyman et al., 2010). The investigators previously developed and field tested Text4Strength messages (RSRB#00047481 and 53924 closed) to demonstrate feasibility, safety, student engagement, and student-perceived relevance for a universal texting extension. The investigators will now conduct a pilot randomized controlled trial in one large school in Western New York that has implemented Sources of Strength for the past two years. The school will continue with Sources of Strength in the 2016-17 school, and add this school-wide texting component as part of this research study. Consistent with Leon's guidelines on pilot studies, the primary focus will be to identify areas of promise, success in reaching proximate targets, and the need for additional modifications (Leon, Davis, & Kraemer, 2011). Findings from this study will inform further refinement of the text messaging program and provide preliminary data for a larger efficacy trial.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Suicide; Emotions; Help-Seeking Behavior; Trusted Adults; Positive Affect
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Intervention; Behavioral: Control

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 222
• Phase: Not Applicable

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 13 years to 19 years (Child, Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• 9th-12th grade students in study school
• must have own cell phone

Exclusion Criteria:

• no cell phone
• not sufficiently English-speaking to complete surveys

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Prevention
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Single

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Intervention; receive interactive text messages	Behavioral: Intervention; The intervention group will receive 2-5 interactive text message sequences per week. These messages will invite students to reply using keywords and short free text replies. Messages come from a library of strength-based peer quotations (reviewed for safety), psychoeducational interactions, and games designed to promote emotional skills and use of resources.
Active Comparator: Control; Receive informational text messages	Behavioral: Control; The control group will receive 1-2 (non-interactive) text messages per week containing general SoS concepts (e.g., "Remember: more strengths are better when times get tough").

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Emotion self-regulation skills	Difficulties with Emotion Regulation Scales (DERS) (Gratz & Roemer, 2004)	change from baseline to three-month follow-up
Resources for Coping	uptake of Sources of Strength concepts (Wyman et al., 2010)	change from baseline to three-month follow-up
Help-Seeking norms	Help-seeking from adults at school (Schmeelk-Cone, et al, 2012)	change from baseline to three-month follow-up

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Depression	Mood and Feelings Questionnaire (MFQ: Angold, et al., 1996; Costello & Angold, 1988)	baseline, immediate follow-up, three-month follow-up
Suicidal Ideation	one question from the MFQ about suicidal ideation in the past two weeks	baseline, immediate follow-up, three-month follow-up

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Rochester
• Collaborators: National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Anthony R Pisani, PhD, University of Rochester Medical Center, Psychiatry Dept

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Terwee CB, Roorda LD, de Vet HC, Dekker J, Westhovens R, van Leeuwen J, Cella D, Correia H, Arnold B, Perez B, Boers M. Dutch-Flemish translation of 17 item banks from the patient-reported outcomes measurement information system (PROMIS). Qual Life Res. 2014 Aug;23(6):1733-41. doi: 10.1007/s11136-013-0611-6. Epub 2014 Jan 9.
• Neacsiu AD, Rizvi SL, Vitaliano PP, Lynch TR, Linehan MM. The dialectical behavior therapy ways of coping checklist: development and psychometric properties. J Clin Psychol. 2010 Jun;66(6):563-82. doi: 10.1002/jclp.20685.
• Gould MS, Greenberg T, Munfakh JL, Kleinman M, Lubell K. Teenagers' attitudes about seeking help from telephone crisis services (hotlines). Suicide Life Threat Behav. 2006 Dec;36(6):601-13. doi: 10.1521/suli.2006.36.6.601.
• Hahn EA, DeWalt DA, Bode RK, Garcia SF, DeVellis RF, Correia H, Cella D; PROMIS Cooperative Group. New English and Spanish social health measures will facilitate evaluating health determinants. Health Psychol. 2014 May;33(5):490-9. doi: 10.1037/hea0000055. Epub 2014 Jan 20.
• Pisani AR, Wyman PA, Petrova M, Schmeelk-Cone K, Goldston DB, Xia Y, Gould MS. Emotion regulation difficulties, youth-adult relationships, and suicide attempts among high school students in underserved communities. J Youth Adolesc. 2013 Jun;42(6):807-20. doi: 10.1007/s10964-012-9884-2. Epub 2012 Dec 18.
• Schmeelk-Cone K, Pisani AR, Petrova M, Wyman PA. Three scales assessing high school students' attitudes and perceived norms about seeking adult help for distress and suicide concerns. Suicide Life Threat Behav. 2012 Apr;42(2):157-72. doi: 10.1111/j.1943-278X.2011.00079.x. Epub 2012 Feb 10.
• Simons, J. S., & Gaher, R. M. (2005). The Distress Tolerance Scale: Development and Validation of a Self-Report Measure. Motivation and Emotion, 29(2), 83-102. doi:10.1007/s11031-005-7955-3
• Wyman PA, Brown CH, LoMurray M, Schmeelk-Cone K, Petrova M, Yu Q, Walsh E, Tu X, Wang W. An outcome evaluation of the Sources of Strength suicide prevention program delivered by adolescent peer leaders in high schools. Am J Public Health. 2010 Sep;100(9):1653-61. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2009.190025. Epub 2010 Jul 15.
• Gratz, K. L., & Roemer, L. (2004). Multidimensional assessment of emotion regulation and dysregulation: Development, factor structure, and initial validation of the difficulties in emotion regulation scale. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 26(1), 41-54. doi:10.1023/B:JOBA.0000007455.08539.94
• Angold, A., Costello, E. J., Messer, S., Pickles, A., Winder, F., & Silver, D. (1996). Development of a short questionnaire for use in epidemiological studies of depression in children and adolescents. International Journal of Methods in Psychiatric Research, 5, 237-249.
• Costello EJ, Angold A. Scales to assess child and adolescent depression: checklists, screens, and nets. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 1988 Nov;27(6):726-37. doi: 10.1097/00004583-198811000-00011. No abstract available.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): June 29, 2016
• Primary Completion (Actual): May 26, 2017
• Study Completion (Actual): May 26, 2017

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: April 25, 2017
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 4, 2017
• First Posted (Actual): May 9, 2017

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): July 19, 2017
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 17, 2017
• Last Verified: July 1, 2017

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Behavioral Symptoms; Self-Injurious Behavior; Suicide
• Other Study ID Numbers: K23MH101449 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: No

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No