Ultra - Brief Crisis IPT-A Based Intervention for Suicidal Children and Adolescents (IPT-A-SCI)

To address the critical need in crisis intervention for children and adolescents at suicidal risk the investigators developed an ultra-brief acute crisis intervention, based on Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT). The current adaptation of IPT-A is comprised of five weekly sessions, followed by monthly follow-up caring email contacts to the patients and their parents, over a period of three months.

Study Overview

• Status: Recruiting
• Conditions: Suicide, Attempted
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: IPT A Suicide Crisis Intervention; Other: Treatment As Usual

Detailed Description

In recent years, suicidal behaviors have shown substantial increase worldwide. This trend is also prominent in Israel and has led to a dramatic increase in mental health treatment demand resulting in long wait times and low treatment acceptance rate. To address the critical need in crisis intervention for children and adolescents at suicidal risk, the investigators developed an ultra-brief acute crisis intervention, based on Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT). IPT is an evidence-based intervention for various psychopathologies among different age groups. The current adaptation of IPT-A is comprised of five weekly sessions, followed by monthly follow-up caring email contacts to the patients and their parents, over a period of three months.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Anticipated): 120
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Liat Haruvi Catalan, Dr; Phone Number: 0544948037; Email: liatcatalan@gmail.com
• Study Contact Backup: Name: Alan APter, Prof; Email: asapter@gmail.com

Study Locations

• Israel
  • Petach Tikva, Israel
    • Recruiting
    • Schneider Children's Medical Center of Israel, Departemnt of Psychological Medicine
    • Contact: Alan Apter, MD; Email: eapter@clalit.org.il
    • Principal Investigator: Alan Apter, MD

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 6 years to 20 years (Child, Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• depression symptoms
• suicidal behavior

Exclusion Criteria:

• acute medical condition
• intellectual disability
• cognitive impairment
• linguistic limitation

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: Non-Randomized
• Interventional Model: Factorial Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

3

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: IPT A SCI; The IPT-A SCI follows the intervention protocol, which includes an intensive phase of 5 weekly 50-minute sessions and 3 follow up personal emails.	Other: IPT A Suicide Crisis Intervention; The intervention is comprised of five weekly sessions followed by monthly emails to the patients and their parents over a period of three months. The first session is aimed at introducing the intervention, assessing depression and suicidal risk and building a safety plan. The safety plan consists of a prioritized list of coping strategies that the patient can use when suicidal risk is increased. The second session is focused on reviewing the patient's interpersonal relationships (using the closeness circle and interpersonal inventory) and conceptualizing the interpersonal problem area. Sessions 3-4 focus on developing and practicing interpersonal, emotional and behavioral coping strategies relevant for suicidal risk. Lastly, in session 5, patient and therapist go over the process and main issues which were worked on, emphasizing relapse prevention by going back to the safety plan. First and fifth sessions always involve the parents.
Active Comparator: Treatment as usual; TAU patients receive an integrative combination of psychodynamic, supportive and cognitive behavioural therapy, usually lasting between 10-30 weeks.	Other: Treatment As Usual; patients receive an integrative combination of psychodynamic, supportive and cognitive behavioral therapy, usually lasting between 10-30 weeks
No Intervention: wait list; WL patients are monitored by a trained clinician during their waiting period and complete the study questionnaire battery at the parallel time intervals.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Suicide Ideation	suicidal ideation [Suicide Ideation Questionnaire (SIQ) (Reynolds, 1987)]	Change from Baseline to 5 weeks assessment and 4 months assessment
change in Depression	Mood and Feeling Questionnaire (MFQ) (Angold et al., 1995)	Change from Baseline to 5 weeks assessment and 4 months assessment

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Rabin Medical Center
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Alan APTER, Prof, Rabin MC

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): April 17, 2018
• Primary Completion (Anticipated): April 17, 2022
• Study Completion (Anticipated): April 17, 2024

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: May 4, 2020
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 26, 2020
• First Posted (Actual): May 27, 2020

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): May 27, 2020
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 26, 2020
• Last Verified: January 1, 2020

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Behavioral Symptoms; Self-Injurious Behavior; Suicide; Suicide, Attempted
• Other Study ID Numbers: 17-0634 RMC

Drug and device information, study documents

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