Supporting Caregivers Following Mental Health Emergency Department Visits (SCFMHEDV)

Ann & Robert H Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago

Status: Enrolling

Conditions: Emergency Department Presentation; Caregiver Participation; Safety Plan

Treatments: Behavioral: Telephone Calls; Behavioral: Automatic MyChart Messages

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other; Other U.S. Federal agency

Identifiers

NCT07411300

25-0364 (Other Grant/Funding Number)

STUDY00000386

Details and patient eligibility

About

The investigators plan to conduct a pilot hybrid effectiveness-implementation type 1 randomized controlled trial comparing 3 arms of varying follow-up intervention. Caregivers of youth ages 10-17 who present to the Lurie Children's Hospital ED with suicidal thoughts or behaviors (STBs) and are discharged with a safety plan will be included in the current study. Families will be randomized to receive either 1) treatment as usual, 2) follow-up phone calls, or 3) automatic electronic medical record (EMR) MyChart messages

Enrollment: 75 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 10 to 17 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Participants are eligible for participation in the current study if they are parent/guardians of youth ages 10-17 who received a psychiatric evaluation in the ED for suicidal thoughts or behaviors and are being discharged with a safety plan

Exclusion criteria

• Parents/guardians will be excluded from recruitment if the youth is in state custody, if they are not proficient in English or Spanish, if the patient is being admitted or transferred for medical or psychiatric hospital admission, or they are not willing to enroll in MyChart through the EMR. The investigators are also only enrolling one caregiver per patient. In other words, if a patient returns to the ED with a different caregiver, the investigators will not enroll the other caregiver.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Supportive Care

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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75 participants in 3 patient groups

Telephone Calls

Experimental group

Description:

Parents/guardians are contacted via telephone by a psychiatric social worker within 72 hours of ED discharge, then the family receives weekly phone calls until either they have successfully connected to follow-up mental health services or asks to no longer be contacted. Otherwise phone calls will continue to be made weekly until 60-days post-discharge.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Telephone Calls

Standard Treatment

No Intervention group

Description:

The caregiver receives the standard follow-up protocol once the patient has been discharged from the Emergency Department.

Automatic MyChart Messages

Experimental group

Description:

Parents/guardians receive automatic MyChart messages that will provide educational content and provide support around utilizing safety plans and restricting lethal means as well as the importance of connecting to follow-up care. These messages are sent within 72 hours of discharge then weekly for the first 60-days post-discharge.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Automatic MyChart Messages