A Just-in-time Adaptive Intervention for Suicide Safety Planning in Adolescents

Conditions

• Anhedonia
• Mental Health Disorder
• Suicide

Eligibility Criteria

Sex

ALL

Age

13 Years - 24 Years

Healthy Volunteers

Not accepted

Interventions

• ViraSafe: Treatment pushes — BEHAVIORAL
  ViraSafe participants will complete a safety plan with their provider. Safety plan content will be editable and viewable throughout the intervention for both participants and their providers. Participants will be able to access the safety plan at any time in ViraSafe. Additionally, patients using ViraSafe will be prompted to complete a daily distress rating. ViraSafe uses automated algorithms (i.e., just in time adaptive intervention features) and user input from distress ratings to facilitate increased engagement with coping skills and pushes safety planning materials to users at periods of high risk (i.e., increases in emotional distress). In addition to the just-in-time reminders (i.e., nudges) pushed automatically by the system, through the Vira Pro platform, practitioners can schedule just-in-time reminders (i.e., "nudges") to arrive in the user's phone to support their behavior change plan.
• BRITE — BEHAVIORAL
  The BRITE app contains the teen's safety plan, links to videos of how to use coping strategies they indicated in their safety plan that have been useful for them (like guided mediation or deep breathing), a library of evidence-based and age-appropriate coping skills and strategies that the adolescent can learn more about, photos or videos that the adolescent has uploaded to the app, and includes a question asking them to rate their distress level in the moment: "What is your distress level right now?" (1 is "Least Distressed" to 5, which is "Most Distressed"). Then, the teen is asked to identify the feeling that fits their distress level via 12 emoji images: "Which feelings fit your distress level?" Based on adolescent's distress rate, the BRITE app suggests coping skills or "activities" for the adolescent to lower their distress level.

Study Details

Despite efforts to prevent suicide, US rates are climbing, and suicide is the second leading cause of death amongst youth. Digital tools, especially personal smartphones, are promising avenues to address these issues and can be used to increase engagement with effective interventions such as suicide safety planning. The BRITE suicide safety planning app was developed on evidence-based principles and has undergone rigorous formative development and effectiveness evaluations. However, to optimize its functionality, commercial viability, and scale its implementation, issues related to user engagement needed to be addressed. This 3 month Pragmatic Randomized Trial will evaluate the impact of the ViraSafe app-an enhanced version of the BRITE suicide safety planning app-on improving engagement with coping skills and safety planning among suicidal adolescents by comparing its intervention components to those of the original BRITE app.

Key Dates

Start date

Feb 16, 2026

Status verified

Jan 2026

Primary completion

Dec 1, 2027

Completion

Dec 31, 2027

Study Design

Enrollment

100 participants (estimated)

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Intervention model

PARALLEL

Primary purpose

PREVENTION

Arms

• Experimental: ViraSafe
  The new augmented app that combines BRITE coping skills and safety planning into the Vira behavior change platform
• Active Comparator: BRITE
  The original BRITE app that promotes self-monitoring and self-management by providing strategies to avoid or cope with triggers for suicidal urges and has been rigorously tested in clinical trials

Primary Outcome Measure

Proximal Engagement [ Time Frame: 24 hours ]

Central Contacts

• Stephanie Stepp, PhD
  412-383-5051
  [email protected]

Locations (3)

Find similar trials in Eugene, OR

Related Studies

• Reaching Out to Distressed Medical Residents, Fellows and Faculty
  Recruiting · Oregon Health and Science University · Portland, Oregon
• Safety Planning Intervention Telehealth Service Model in Emergency Departments
  Enrolling By Invitation · University of Pennsylvania · Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• A Comparison of Two Brief Suicide Prevention Interventions Tailored for Youth on the Autism Spectrum
  Enrolling By Invitation · University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill · Baltimore, Maryland
• Preventing Suicide Among Sexual and Gender Diverse Young Adults in Primary Care
  Recruiting · Elizabeth Arnold · Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania