TY - JOUR
T1 - Employing a sequential multiple assignment randomized trial (SMART) to evaluate the impact of brief risk and protective factor prevention interventions for American Indian Youth Suicide
AU - O'Keefe, Victoria M.
AU - Haroz, Emily E.
AU - Goklish, Novalene
AU - Ivanich, Jerreed
AU - Cwik, Mary F.
AU - Barlow, Allison
N1 - Funding Information:
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and or publication of this article: funding was received from the National Institute of Mental Health (5U19MH113136–03). The opinions and views expressed in this paper are those solely of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of the study sponsors. The funding source had no role in the study design and do not have any role in data collection, management, analysis, and interpretation. The study sponsor has no role in the writing of this manuscript and the decision to submit the report for publication.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 The Author(s).
PY - 2019/12/12
Y1 - 2019/12/12
N2 - Background: This study is built on a long-standing research partnership between the Johns Hopkins Center for American Indian Health and the White Mountain Apache Tribe to identify effective interventions to prevent suicide and promote resilience among American Indian (AI) youth. The work is founded on a tribally-mandated, community-based suicide surveillance system with case management by local community mental health specialists (CMHSs) who strive to connect at-risk youth to treatment and brief, adjunctive interventions piloted in past research. Methods: Our primary aim is to evaluate which brief interventions, alone or in combination, have the greater effect on suicide ideation (primary outcome) and resilience (secondary outcome) among AI youth ages 10-24 ascertained for suicide-related behaviors by the tribal surveillance system. We are using a Sequential Multiple Assignment Randomized Trial with stratified assignment based on age and suicidal-behavior type, and randomizing N = 304 youth. Brief interventions are delivered by AI CMHSs, or by Elders with CMHS support, and include: 1) New Hope, an evidence-based intervention to reduce immediate suicide risk through safety planning, emotion regulation skills, and facilitated care connections; and 2) Elders' Resilience, a culturally-grounded intervention to promote resilience through connectedness, self-esteem and cultural identity/values. The control condition is Optimized Case Management, which all study participants receive. We hypothesize that youth who receive: a) New Hope vs. Optimized Case Management will have significant reductions in suicide ideation; b) Elders' Resilience vs. Optimized Case Management will have significant gains in resilience; c) New Hope followed by Elders' Resilience will have the largest improvements on suicide ideation and resilience; and d) Optimized Case Management will have the weakest effects of all groups. Our secondary aim will examine mediators and moderators of treatment effectiveness and sequencing. Discussion: Due to heterogeneity of suicide risk/protective factors among AI youth, not all youth require the same types of interventions. Generating evidence for what works, when it works, and for whom is paramount to AI youth suicide prevention efforts, where rates are currently high and resources are limited. Employing Native paraprofessionals is a means of task-shifting psychoeducation, culturally competent patient support and continuity of care. Trial registration: Clinical Trials NCT03543865, June 1, 2018.
AB - Background: This study is built on a long-standing research partnership between the Johns Hopkins Center for American Indian Health and the White Mountain Apache Tribe to identify effective interventions to prevent suicide and promote resilience among American Indian (AI) youth. The work is founded on a tribally-mandated, community-based suicide surveillance system with case management by local community mental health specialists (CMHSs) who strive to connect at-risk youth to treatment and brief, adjunctive interventions piloted in past research. Methods: Our primary aim is to evaluate which brief interventions, alone or in combination, have the greater effect on suicide ideation (primary outcome) and resilience (secondary outcome) among AI youth ages 10-24 ascertained for suicide-related behaviors by the tribal surveillance system. We are using a Sequential Multiple Assignment Randomized Trial with stratified assignment based on age and suicidal-behavior type, and randomizing N = 304 youth. Brief interventions are delivered by AI CMHSs, or by Elders with CMHS support, and include: 1) New Hope, an evidence-based intervention to reduce immediate suicide risk through safety planning, emotion regulation skills, and facilitated care connections; and 2) Elders' Resilience, a culturally-grounded intervention to promote resilience through connectedness, self-esteem and cultural identity/values. The control condition is Optimized Case Management, which all study participants receive. We hypothesize that youth who receive: a) New Hope vs. Optimized Case Management will have significant reductions in suicide ideation; b) Elders' Resilience vs. Optimized Case Management will have significant gains in resilience; c) New Hope followed by Elders' Resilience will have the largest improvements on suicide ideation and resilience; and d) Optimized Case Management will have the weakest effects of all groups. Our secondary aim will examine mediators and moderators of treatment effectiveness and sequencing. Discussion: Due to heterogeneity of suicide risk/protective factors among AI youth, not all youth require the same types of interventions. Generating evidence for what works, when it works, and for whom is paramount to AI youth suicide prevention efforts, where rates are currently high and resources are limited. Employing Native paraprofessionals is a means of task-shifting psychoeducation, culturally competent patient support and continuity of care. Trial registration: Clinical Trials NCT03543865, June 1, 2018.
KW - American Indian
KW - Native American
KW - Resilience
KW - Risk-reduction
KW - Study design
KW - Suicide
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85076423286&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85076423286&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1186/s12889-019-7996-2
DO - 10.1186/s12889-019-7996-2
M3 - Article
C2 - 31830933
AN - SCOPUS:85076423286
SN - 1471-2458
VL - 19
JO - BMC public health
JF - BMC public health
IS - 1
M1 - 1675
ER -