BRITEPath- Phase 2

The Center for Enhancing Treatment & Utilization for Depression and Emergent Suicidality Phase 2-Study 3-BRITEPath

BRITEPath (BP) aims to support co-located mental health clinicians in the development of a high quality, effective, and personalized safety plan for referred patients who screen positive for depression and/or suicidal ideation.

BRITEPath utilizes BRITE, a safety planning and emotion regulation app that is loaded on the patient's smart phone and has previously been shown to be well accepted and to reduce suicide attempts compared to usual care in psychiatric inpatients (HR = 0.49). To support mental health clinicians in the development of effective safety plans, study investigators will develop Guide2Brite (G2B), which provides step-by-step instructions for the mental health clinician on how to populate BRITE onto the patient's smartphone and BRITEBoard, a clinician dashboard that tracks patient symptoms, app use, and rating on helpfulness of different interventions assessed through BRITE.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Depression; Suicidal Ideation
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: BRITEPath; Behavioral: Treatment As Usual (TAU)

Detailed Description

BRITEPath has 3 components: 1) BRITE, an emotion regulation and safety planning phone app that is delivered by a co-located mental health (MH) clinician to adolescents at the time of their first therapy appointment; 2) Guide2Brite, which will guide the co-located MH clinician in working with the adolescent to population content onto BRITE; and 3) BRITEBoard, which is a clinician dashboard delivered to the MH clinician and PCP.

Assignment of Interventions: This study will utilize a 1:1 randomization scheme to randomize participants to receive BRITEPath intervention or Treatment as Usual (TAU).

Hypothesis: The use of BRITEPath will decrease depressive symptoms, distress, and suicidality (any self-injurious ideation, urges, or behavior) as well as improve overall functioning compared to TAU.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 101
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Michigan
    • Detroit, Michigan, United States, 48126
      • Henry Ford Health System
  • New York
    • Hyde Park, New York, United States, 11040
      • Northwell Hospital
  • Pennsylvania
    • Moon, Pennsylvania, United States, 15108
      • Children's Community Pediatrics (CCP-Moon) of Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC
    • Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, 15213
      • STAR- Center
    • Wexford, Pennsylvania, United States, 15090
      • Children's Community Pediatrics (CCP- Wexford) of Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC
  • Washington
    • Seattle, Washington, United States, 98105
      • Seattle Children's Hospital

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 12 years to 26 years (Child, Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

1. Youth aged 12-26yo
2. Own a device (e.g. smartphone, iPod, tablet) with capability to download BRITE app
3. Biological or adoptive parent is willing to provide informed consent for teen to participate
4. Youth speaks and understands English
5. Positive PHQ score or provider determines youth has depressive symptoms based on clinical interaction and refers youth to the study (in cases when PHQ is not available and study staff will complete the PHQ during the screening) OR Provider can refer if they are unclear if symptoms are depressive and PHQ scoring will be used to determine youth's eligibility. OR Screening Wizard screening questionnaire (which includes the PHQ and depressive symptom questions) indicates depression OR provider/parent have concern that youth/patient has a mood or behavioral problem
6. Family agrees to see an (embedded) MH therapist at the practice
7. PHQ scores: Score of 8 or higher on PHQ-8 -or- Score of 1 or higher on #9 of PHQ-9 suicidality item

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Non English speaking
2. No parent willing to provide informed consent
3. No cell phone capability of downloading BRITE app
4. Is currently experiencing mania or psychosis
5. Evidence of an intellectual or developmental disorder (IDD)
6. Life threatening medical condition that requires immediate treatment (including emergent suicidality, homicidally, abuse/neglect, or other mental or physical condition)
7. Other cognitive or medical condition preventing youth from understanding study and/or participating.
8. Currently receiving MH treatment/currently satisfied with treatment

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Health Services Research
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Single

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: BRITEPath; Participants will receive the components in BRITEPath from a mental health (MH) clinical trained by the study staff/PI's on how to implement BRITE safety planning with fidelity. First, the MH clinician will review possible barriers to implementation of the safety plan and problem-solve appropriately with patient and parent(s); (2) BRITE is the emotion regulation/safety planning app loaded on the patient's smartphone that populated with support from Guide2BRITE; and (3) BRITEBoard, a clinician dashboard that shows app use, change in distress and symptoms ratings, and can be used for shared decision making with parents, patients, and PCPs. Clinicians will review adolescent's skill development and app content with parents. Prior to discharge or following acute increases in suicide risk.	Behavioral: BRITEPath; BRITEPath will guide co-located mental health clinicians in the use of an emotion regulation and safety planning app (BRITE) to be loaded on the phone of depressed and suicidal adolescents in order to improve depression and reduce the likelihood of a suicide attempt.
Active Comparator: Treatment As Usual (TAU); Participants in the TAU group will receive treatment from their mental health clinician which may include safety planning.	Behavioral: Treatment As Usual (TAU); Participants in this group will receive usual care from their mental health care provider.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Depression Severity	Total scores from the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) will be used to assess depression severity, as a primary outcome. The PHQ-9 is a 9 items assessment with scoring ranging from 0-27. The higher the score, the more severe the depression symptoms are. A score of 0-4= no depression; 5-9= mild depression; 10-14= moderate depression; 15-19= moderately severe depression; 20-27= severe depression symptoms.	At 4 week follow up after Baseline
Depression Severity	Total scores from the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) will be used to assess depression severity, as a primary outcome. The PHQ-9 is a 9 items assessment with scoring ranging from 0-27. The higher the score, the more severe the depression symptoms are. A score of 0-4= no depression; 5-9= mild depression; 10-14= moderate depression; 15-19= moderately severe depression; 20-27= severe depression symptoms.	At 12 week follow up after Baseline
Suicidal Ideation and Behavior	Suicide attempt & ideation is measured through Columbia Suicide Severity Rating Scale (C-SSRS) and Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9). Assign score of 0 if no ideation/behavior present or answer is "No", assign a score of 1 if ideation/behavior present or "Yes." A "Yes" to question 9 (score=1) on PHQ-9 indicates suicidal ideation. Suicidal ideation or behavior= "yes" answer to any of suicidal behavior questions (Categories 7-10) on the CSSRS. 7- Aborted Attempt 8- Interrupted Attempt 9- Actual Attempt (non-fatal) 10- Completed Suicide. Any score greater than 0 is important/may indicate need for intervention and may indicate worse outcomes.	At 4 week follow up after Baseline
Suicidal Ideation and Behavior	Suicide attempt & ideation is measured through Columbia Suicide Severity Rating Scale (C-SSRS) and Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9). Assign score of 0 if no ideation/behavior present or answer is "No", assign a score of 1 if ideation/behavior present or "Yes." A "Yes" to question 9 (score=1) on PHQ-9 indicates suicidal ideation. Suicidal ideation or behavior= "yes" answer to any of suicidal behavior questions (Categories 7-10) on the CSSRS. 7- Aborted Attempt 8- Interrupted Attempt 9- Actual Attempt (non-fatal) 10- Completed Suicide. Any score greater than 0 is important/may indicate need for intervention and may indicate worse outcomes.	At 12 week follow up after Baseline
Quality of Life and Social/Emotional Functioning	Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory Version 4 assesses quality of life and functioning. Items on the Pediatric Quality of Life Generic Core Scales are reverse scored & transformed to 0-100 scale. Higher scores indicate better health related quality of life. 0 ("Never") = 100; 1 ("Almost Never") = 75; 2 ("Sometimes") = 50; 3 ("Often") = 25; 4 ("Almost Always") = 0. The total score is Sum of all items over number of items answered.	At 4 week follow up after Baseline
Quality of Life and Social/Emotional Functioning	Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory Version 4 assesses quality of life and functioning. Items on the Pediatric Quality of Life Generic Core Scales are reverse scored & transformed to 0-100 scale. Higher scores indicate better health related quality of life. 0 ("Never") = 100; 1 ("Almost Never") = 75; 2 ("Sometimes") = 50; 3 ("Often") = 25; 4 ("Almost Always") = 0. The total score is Sum of all items over number of items answered.	At 12 week follow up after Baseline
Service Utilization (Outpatient, School, ER, Legal, Inpatient, Medication)	The Child and Adolescent Service Assessment (CASA) collects service utilization of all participants to determine the amount of services accessed. The CASA response data displayed are those who responded positively that they received the service. Those who said yes to receiving the service is scored as a 1. Multiple participants can say yes to more than 1 service.	4 week follow up
Service Utilization (Outpatient, School, ER, Legal, Inpatient, Medication)	The Child and Adolescent Service Assessment (CASA) collects service utilization of all participants to determine the amount of services accessed. The CASA response data displayed are those who responded positively that they received the service. Those who said yes to receiving the service is scored as a 1. Multiple participants can say yes to more than 1 service.	12 week follow up

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Application Utilization-BRITE App Use by Participants	Use of the technical components of interventions and web portals for BRITEPath with be monitored throughout Phase 2. Utilization will be measured by the number of participants who have engaged with the application over time, including rating distress levels in the app and utilizing the following app features: learn to savor, reaching out to contacts, soothe breathe, sooth guided meditation, crisis survival strategies, distract with happy thoughts, distract exercise, savor, and soothe activities to help you sleep.	Up to 12 week follow up
Application Utilization-Number of Participants With Provider Who Completed Guide2BRITE Onboarding Process	Use of the technical components of interventions and web portals for BRITEPath with be monitored throughout Phase 2. Use of the technical components of Guide2BRITE and the BRITEPortal for physicians will be monitored throughout Phase 1b. Utilization will be measured by the number of providers who have completed the Guide2BRITE onboarding process which includes steps 1, 1.2, 1.3, 2, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 2.5, 3, 3.2, 4, 4.1, and 5. Each step includes text field components of a standard safety plan that needs to be completed. Providers who clicked "next" at each step after filling in the text boxes were counted.	Up to 12 week follow up
Cost Estimate for Implementation of BRITEPath Intervention	An overall average of the cost of implementing the BRITEPath intervention (including labor, equipment, supplies, facilities) will be estimated. Outcome measure data below highlights the estimated cost of the intervention BRITEPath Intervention per participant, measures were based on estimates from staff and not on empirical data at the individual level.	At 12 week follow up after Baseline
Usability and Satisfaction	Satisfaction to BRITEPath will be assessed through questions developed by investigators to understand experience with the program. Questions investigators have adapted from literature reviews on satisfaction include: "If a friend were in need of mental health care for depression or suicidal thoughts or behaviors, would you recommend BRITEPath to help him/her manage symptoms?" The response options include: No, definitely not; No, I don't think so; Yes, I think so; Yes, definitely	At exit interview following week 4 study visit or week 12 study visit (depending on when youth attends mental health session that uses BRITEPath tools)
Usability and Satisfaction	Satisfaction to BRITEPath will be assessed through questions developed by investigators to understand experience with the program. Questions investigators have adapted from literature reviews on satisfaction include: "How satisfied are you with the amount of help you received?" The response options include: Very Dissatisfied, Dissatisfied, Satisfied, Very Satisfied	At exit interview following week 4 study visit or week 12 study visit (depending on when youth attends mental health session that uses BRITEPath tools)
Usability and Satisfaction	Satisfaction to BRITEPath will be assessed through questions developed by investigators to understand experience with the program. Questions investigators have adapted from literature reviews on satisfaction include: "Have the services you received helped you to deal more effectively with your problem?" The response options include: Seemed to make things worse, Really didn't help, Yes, somewhat, or Yes, a great deal.	At exit interview following week 4 study visit or week 12 study visit (depending on when youth attends mental health session that uses BRITEPath tools)
Satisfaction With Technical Components	Satisfaction with the technical components of interventions will be assessed through the certain questions from the Post System Satisfaction and Usability Questionnaire (PSSUQ). The PSSUQ is 19 items with response options ranging from 1 to 7 where 1= strongly disagree and 7= strongly agree. The PSSUQ has sub-scores derived from subsets of the questions which reflect system usefulness, information quality, and interface quality. Questions from sub-domains were chosen to tailor the questioning to this particular intervention.	At exit interview following week 4 study visit or week 12 study visit (depending on when youth attends mental health session that uses BRITEPath tools)

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Pittsburgh
• Collaborators: National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH); Kaiser Foundation Research Institute
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Stephanie Stepp, PhD, University of Pittsburgh; Study Director: David Brent, MD, University of Pittsburgh

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): November 5, 2020
• Primary Completion (Actual): March 23, 2022
• Study Completion (Actual): July 31, 2022

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: December 11, 2020
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: December 11, 2020
• First Posted (Actual): December 17, 2020

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): June 5, 2023
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 10, 2023
• Last Verified: May 1, 2023

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: treatment; depression; anxiety; suicidal ideation; app; safety planning; provider
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Behavioral Symptoms; Mental Disorders; Mood Disorders; Self-Injurious Behavior; Suicide; Depression; Depressive Disorder; Suicidal Ideation
• Other Study ID Numbers: STUDY20110359; P50MH115838-02 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: YES
• IPD Plan Description: All requests for study data will follow NIMH's data sharing and data use policies. The final completely de-identified dataset(s) will include demographic and clinical data at baseline, and primary and secondary outcomes for all studies, including those funded by the innovation contests. These analytic datasets may also include derived variables with documentation. Our form datasets will include original case report forms, a detailed codebook of variable names, value labels, and programming formats and all study documentation including the protocol and manual of procedures. For descriptive/raw data, study investigators/study staff will upload to NIMH's National Database for Clinical Trials Related to Mental Health Illness (NDCT) on a semi-annual basis all analyzed data being uploaded prior to primary paper publication.
• IPD Sharing Time Frame: These data will be released to the NDCT soon after each project's "main outcomes" manuscript is accepted for publication
• IPD Sharing Access Criteria: In addition to public access to the NDCT, data can also be accessed by contacting ETUDES Center investigators.

Drug and device information, study documents

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