Suicide Prevention for Sexual and Gender Minority Youth (Case Series)

January 26, 2024 updated by: Aaron Blashill, San Diego State University
The overarching goal of this study is to develop a suicide prevention program for sexual-and-gender-minority youth and emerging adults. After development of the intervention program, a case series trial will be conducted to test the feasibility and acceptability of the intervention and study methods.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death among all U.S. citizens, and is the 2nd leading cause of death among youth and emerging adults between the ages of 15 and 34. Moreover, U.S. representative data indicate increasing trends in suicide attempts and death by suicide. In addition to the immense psychological burden experienced by the family and friends of individuals who attempt and complete suicide, the costs of death by suicide and suicide attempts in 2013 were estimated at $93.5 billion.

One group that is particularly vulnerable to suicide is sexual and gender minorities (SGMs). SGM is an umbrella term used to describe individuals who identify as non-exclusively heterosexual (e.g., gay, lesbian, bisexual) and/or as transgender/non-binary (e.g., identify as a gender different from their birth sex). Extant research consistently notes substantial mental health disparities among SGMs in comparison to their heterosexual and cis-gender counterparts. In 2017, in the U.S., 23% of sexual minority youth reported one or more suicide attempts (in the past 12 months) vs. 5.4% of heterosexual youth. This disparity has also been noted in a meta-analysis of population-based longitudinal studies, with sexual minority adolescents and emerging adults reporting 2.26 increased odds of suicide attempts compared to their heterosexual counterparts. Prevalence of lifetime suicide attempts among gender minorities is also substantially elevated compared to the general population, with 45% of 18-24-year-old transgender individuals reporting history of one or more suicide attempts.

Despite these substantial health disparities in suicide among SGM youth/emerging adults, no known suicide prevention programs exist for this highly vulnerable population. Given this crucial gap in the literature, the proposed study will adapt and test a patient navigation (PN) intervention for SGM youth/emerging adults designed to target mechanisms (i.e., decreasing thwarted belongingness and increasing suicide-related coping skills) that theoretically underlie suicide. The proposed intervention will integrate a single-session, empirically supported, suicide prevention intervention (Safety Planning Intervention; SPI) with PN services (PN+SPI). The patient navigator will deliver the SPI and continue frequent contact for the purpose of providing motivational enhancement, problem-solving, reinforcing coping strategies, and connecting participants to social support and mental health resources (e.g., SGM-specific support groups within the community). This study will accomplish the following specific aims:

Specific Aim 1: To adapt and test an integrated PN+SPI designed to reduce suicide attempts among SGM youth and emerging adults. In this case series trial (N = 9), feasibility and acceptability of the PN+ SPI intervention will be assessed.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

9

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • California
      • San Diego, California, United States, 92182
        • San Diego State University

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

15 years to 29 years (Child, Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Age 15 to 29 years
  • Identifies as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, genderqueer, asexual, pansexual, non-binary, or another non-exclusively heterosexual identity, and/or reports same-gender romantic attraction, and/or reports same-gender sexual behavior in the past 12 months
  • Resides in San Diego County, California
  • Speaks English
  • Is willing and able to provide informed consent
  • Reports suicidal ideation over the past two weeks, as indicated by the clinician-administered Columbia-Suicide Severity Rating Scale (C-SSRS) Baseline version
  • Reports a lifetime history of one or more suicide attempts

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Individuals with immediate intention to attempt suicide will be excluded.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Prevention
  • Allocation: N/A
  • Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Safety Planning Intervention with Navigation Services
A patient navigation (PN) intervention for SGM youth/emerging adults designed to target mechanisms (i.e., decreasing thwarted belongingness and increasing suicide-related coping skills) that theoretically underlie suicide. The proposed intervention will integrate a single-session, empirically supported, suicide prevention intervention (Safety Planning Intervention; SPI) with PN services (PN+SPI). The patient navigator will deliver the SPI and continue frequent contact for the purpose of providing motivational enhancement, problem-solving, reinforcing coping strategies, and connecting participants to social support and mental health resources (e.g., SGM-specific support groups within the community).
Behavioral: Safety Planning Intervention with Navigation Services
A patient navigation (PN) intervention for SGM youth/emerging adults designed to target mechanisms (i.e., decreasing thwarted belongingness and increasing suicide-related coping skills) that theoretically underlie suicide. The proposed intervention will integrate a single-session, empirically supported, suicide prevention intervention (Safety Planning Intervention; SPI) with PN services (PN+SPI). The patient navigator will deliver the SPI and continue frequent contact for the purpose of providing motivational enhancement, problem-solving, reinforcing coping strategies, and connecting participants to social support and mental health resources (e.g., SGM-specific support groups within the community).
Other Names:
  • PN+SPI Intervention

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
The Interpersonal Needs Questionnaire-15 (INQ-15) - Thwarted Belongingness
Time Frame: Cohen's d effect size as change from baseline thwarted belongingness scores at 3 months (0.00-0.49 small effect; 0.50-0.79 medium effect; 0.80-1.00 large effect)
Assess thwarted belongingness (9 items on 7-point scales; scores range from 9 to 63 with higher scores indicating greater thwarted belongingness)
Cohen's d effect size as change from baseline thwarted belongingness scores at 3 months (0.00-0.49 small effect; 0.50-0.79 medium effect; 0.80-1.00 large effect)
Suicide-Related Coping Scale (SRCS) - Internal Coping Skills
Time Frame: Cohen's d effect size as change from baseline suicide-related internal coping scores at 3 months (0.00-0.49 small effect; 0.50-0.79 medium effect; 0.80-1.00 large effect)
Assess suicide-related internal coping skills (7 items on 5-point scales; scores range from 0 to 28 with higher scores indicating better internal coping)
Cohen's d effect size as change from baseline suicide-related internal coping scores at 3 months (0.00-0.49 small effect; 0.50-0.79 medium effect; 0.80-1.00 large effect)
Suicide-Related Coping Scale (SRCS) - External Coping Skills
Time Frame: Cohen's d effect size as change from baseline suicide-related external coping scores at 3 months (0.00-0.49 small effect; 0.50-0.79 medium effect; 0.80-1.00 large effect)
Assess suicide-related external coping skills (7 items on 5-point scales; scores range from 0 to 28 with higher scores indicating better external coping)
Cohen's d effect size as change from baseline suicide-related external coping scores at 3 months (0.00-0.49 small effect; 0.50-0.79 medium effect; 0.80-1.00 large effect)

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

San Diego State University

Collaborators

National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Aaron J Blashill, San Diego State University
  • Principal Investigator: Kristen J Wells, San Diego State University

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Helpful Links

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

May 13, 2021

Primary Completion (Actual)

October 8, 2021

Study Completion (Actual)

October 8, 2021

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

February 11, 2021

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 15, 2021

First Posted (Actual)

February 17, 2021

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimated)

January 29, 2024

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 26, 2024

Last Verified

January 1, 2024

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • HS-2020-0076 (1)
  • 1R61MH120236-01 (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

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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