Task-Shifting for Youth Suicide Prevention

Boston College

Status: Begins enrollment in 5 months

Conditions: Adolescent Mental Health; Depressive Symptoms; Suicidal Ideation

Treatments: Other: Usual Community Center Services; Behavioral: Adapted Brief Interpersonal Psychotherapy for Adolescents (IPT-A LAZOS)

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT07383831

K23MH137405 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

24.274

Details and patient eligibility

About

The goal of this randomized clinical trial is to examine the feasibility, acceptability, and mechanisms of change of a brief adaptation of Interpersonal Psychotherapy for Adolescents (IPT-A), adapted and task-shifted to lay providers (mentors, youth trusted adults) in youth community centers (YCCs) as an upstream approach to suicide.

It focuses on Hispanic adolescents ages 12-17 enrolled in these YCCs. The pragmatic clinical trial will evaluate the acceptability and feasibility of adapted IPT-A delivered by mentors in YCCs and whether adapted IPT-A impacts mechanisms of change (depression symptoms, belongingness, and feeling like a burden to others).

The main questions it aims to answer are:

• Is adpated IPT-A, when delivered by trained youth mentors, feasible and acceptable in youth community centers?
• Does adapted IPT-A target key risk factors (e.g., depressive symptoms, low belongingness, and perceived burdensomeness) associated with suicide ideation? Researchers will compare adolescents randomized to adapted IPT-A (6 sessions) delivered by a trained youth mentor with those receiving usual services at the community center (one individual session focused on active listening).

Participants will:

• Be screened for subthreshold depression using the PHQ-9 adolescent version. Adolescents will be included if they score between 4 and 9 (mild depression). Adolescents with a PHQ-9 score of 10 or higher will not be eligible and will be referred to a licensed mental health provider for appropriate care.
• Be randomized to adapted IPT-A or usual care.
• Youth in the intervention arm will participate in 6 weekly adapted IPT-A sessions with a trained youth mentor focused on education, affect identification, and interpersonal skills.

Enrollment: 46 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 12 to 17 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

1. Parent consent
2. Adolescent consent
3. Enrolled in youth community centers
4. Self-identified as Hispanic or Latine
5. Between 12 and 17 years old.
6. Scoring threshold for depression (4-9) as indicated in the PHQ-A.
7. No current report of suicide ideation with plan or self-harming behaviors

Exclusion criteria

1. Not consented to participate in the study
2. Scoring 10 or higher in the PHQ-A, indicating depressive disorder
3. Active suicide ideation (i.e., having thoughts of killing oneself, thinking about how in the past month).

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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46 participants in 2 patient groups

Adapted IPT-A Delivered by Youth Mentors

Experimental group

Description:

Participants in this arm will receive 6 weekly sessions of an adapted, brief Interpersonal Psychotherapy for Adolescents (IPT-A) delivered by trained youth mentors (n=5) at the partnering youth community centers. The intervention focuses on improving interpersonal functioning, communication skills, and supportive relationships to reduce depressive symptoms, low belongingness, and perceived burdensomeness.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Adapted Brief Interpersonal Psychotherapy for Adolescents (IPT-A LAZOS)

Usual Community Center Services

Active Comparator group

Description:

Participants in this arm will continue to receive the standard youth programming and services offered at the participating community centers. This is an individual session focused on active listening.

Treatment:

Other: Usual Community Center Services