Presentations

Abstract

Introduction:

Suicide is a leading cause of death among adolescents, and, alarmingly, rates have continued to increase over the past decade. Given the limited empirically supported psychosocial interventions for adolescent suicidal behavior, there is a great need to identify processes underlying risk for this outcome. This poster presentation will report preliminary data from an ongoing large-scale collaborative project that is examining how social stress increases risk for suicidal behavior in youth. Specifically, this poster will describe the feasibility and acceptability of this research design with high- risk youth during the critical period following discharge from acute psychiatric care - one of the highest risk periods for suicide deaths.

Methods:

This project is recruiting adolescents (12-18 years old) and at least one parent/caregiver across three collaborating sites (Old Dominion University (ODU) in collaboration with Children's Hospital of the King's Daughter (CHKD), Rutgers, and Massachusetts General Hospital) following discharge from acute psychiatric care. The study has three components: (1) baseline assessment (within 90 days of discharge from acute psychiatric care for suicide risk), (2) 28 days of intensive longitudinal data collection via smartphone-based surveys and wrist actigraphy, and (3) follow-up assessment at the end of the 28-day period. Given that this is a high-risk period, adolescents' responses are monitored for risk and to ensure their safety during the intensive monitoring period.

Results:

To date, the study has recruited 73 adolescents and at least one caregiver. The sample across all three sites was primarily female (73.97%). The average age was 14.67. 21% of the sample identified as Hispanic. 41% of the sample identified as White, 27% as Black/African American, 18% as multiracial, 8% as Asian, and 1% as Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander. This poster will report adherence rates during the intensive monitoring period (i.e., what is the completion rate of surveys during the 28-day monitoring period). In addition, feedback from adolescents and parents/caregivers about what it was like to participate in this research will be provided. For instance, one adolescent participant commented on the thought-provoking aspects of the daily surveys, which "made [her] really think about how [she] felt and how much [she] progressed..." since beginning the study. Furthermore, a caregiver also commented on how the surveys challenged the perception of their child's condition, saying "[it] forced us to think deeper into our feelings regarding my child's depression..."

Conclusion:

This multi-site project is one of the first to recruit such a large sample of adolescents during the high-risk post-hospitalization period. Results to date demonstrate that this research is feasible and acceptable to youth and their families. Future research will examine how proximal risk factors are related to suicidal thoughts and behaviors among youth.