Digital Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (d-DBT) Skills for Acute Suicidality in Psychiatric Inpatients
Study Details
Study Description
Brief Summary
Suicidality (ideation about taking one's life, suicide plans, and attempts) is a major public health concern in Ontario and worldwide. Psychiatric inpatients with suicidality represent a group that is high-risk for subsequent suicide. Current standard-care for suicidal psychiatric inpatients focuses on containment of risk and indirect treatment of suicidality by treating any underlying mental disorder. Though there is evidence that addressing suicidality directly is more effective than an indirect approach, there are limited evidence based treatments that target suicidality. Furthermore, there are few high-quality studies that have included inpatients. Psychotherapeutic interventions are under-utilized for inpatients and COVID-19 has further widened this gap given attempts by hospitals to reduce face-to-face contact with patients. Digital psychotherapy interventions have the ability to bridge this gap given their lower cost, ease of dissemination, acceptability by patients, and effectiveness. To our knowledge, there are no studies that have assessed the feasibility, acceptability and effectiveness of digital interventions for suicidal inpatients. Our study is a feasibility trial of a previously studied digital Dialectical Behavioural Therapy (d-DBT) skills intervention in suicidal psychiatric inpatients.
The study is a two arm randomized parallel group-controlled trial, 6-10 day, flexible timeline, randomized feasibility trial of a d-DBT skills intervention added to standard care for patients admitted to psychiatric inpatient units with suicidality. There will be 20 patients who will receive the intervention in addition to standard care and 20 patients who will receive standard care alone. There will also be a 4 week follow-up after discharge from hospital.
Participants will be admitted for psychiatric care at the Complex and Critical Care Units, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), Toronto.
| Condition or Disease | Intervention/Treatment | Phase |
|---|---|---|
|
N/A |
Study Design
Arms and Interventions
| Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
|---|---|
| Experimental: Digital DBT intervention group Digital intervention group plus standard care |
Other: digital DBT skills intervention
The digital intervention consists of 6 modules that will be delivered over 6 to 10 days. The modules cover mindfulness skills, emotion regulation skills and distress tolerance skills.
Other: Standard Care
Standard inpatient care includes a multi-disciplinary team approach including daily psychiatric review, medication management and in-person psychosocial interventions (social work, nursing).
|
| Active Comparator: Standard care Standard care alone |
Other: Standard Care
Standard inpatient care includes a multi-disciplinary team approach including daily psychiatric review, medication management and in-person psychosocial interventions (social work, nursing).
|
Outcome Measures
Primary Outcome Measures
- Recruitment and retention rates [6-10 days]
Feasibility - whether the intervention is possible in the acute inpatient setting
- Client Satisfaction Questionnaire 8 (CSQ-8) [6-10 days]
Acceptability - whether the intervention is appropriate for the acute inpatient setting. The CSQ-8 scores range from 8 to 32, with higher values indicating higher satisfaction with the intervention.
- User Experience Questionnaire (UXQ) [6-10 days]
Usability - whether the intervention is serviceable for its intended purpose. The UXQ has 11 items exploring characteristics informing usability of mobile apps, each scored from 0-10, for a total score ranging from 10-110 (with larger scores indicating increased usability).
Secondary Outcome Measures
- Columbia-Suicide Severity Rating Scale (C-SSRS) [5-10 days in addition to discharge and 4 weeks post-discharge]
Preliminary efficacy - whether symptoms of suicidal ideation are reduced by the intervention. The sum ranges from 2 to 25, with the higher number indicating more intense ideation.
- Clinical Global Impression (CGI) [5-10 days in addition to discharge and 4 weeks post-discharge]
Preliminary efficacy - whether CGI change during the clinical trial. The CGI asks the clinician to rank the current severity of illness and global improvement. Scores range form 1 to 7 with a higher score corresponding to more severe illness
- Brief Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS-16) [5-10 days in addition to discharge and 4 weeks post-discharge]
Preliminary efficacy - whether symptoms of emotion regulation change during the trial. Total scores on the DERS-16 can range from 16 to 80, with higher scores reflecting greater levels of emotion dysregulation
- Kessler psychological distress scale (K10) [5-10 days in addition to discharge and 4 weeks post-discharge]
Preliminary efficacy - whether symptoms of distress are improved by the intervention. Scores range from 10 to 50, with increasing scores indicating increasing distress and severity of symptoms.
Eligibility Criteria
Criteria
Inclusion Criteria:
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patients with any DSM-5 diagnosis aged 18 years and above;
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admitted to CAMH with suicidality and a baseline BSI score of > 6;
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capable and willing to give informed consent;
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anticipated length of admission is greater than 5 days;
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deemed suitable by the primary team to take part in a psychotherapeutic intervention as part of standard care
Capacity to consent will be evaluated by the research staff performing the informed consent process. It will be assessed as the participant's ability to understand and appreciate the risks and benefits of taking part in the proposed study.
Exclusion Criteria:
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presence of psychiatric symptoms that interfere with the ability to complete the d-DBT
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Concurrent treatment with ECT or MST
Contacts and Locations
Locations
| Site | City | State | Country | Postal Code | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Centre for Addiction and Mental Health | Toronto | Ontario | Canada | M6J1h3 |
Sponsors and Collaborators
- Centre for Addiction and Mental Health
- The Physicians' Services Incorporated Foundation
Investigators
- Principal Investigator: Ishrat Husain, MD (Res), Centre for Addiction and Mental Health
Study Documents (Full-Text)
None provided.More Information
Publications
None provided.- 047-2021