MYPLAN - Effectiveness of a Safety Plan App to Manage Crisis of Persons at Risk of Suicide

Summary

Background: Persons with a past episode of self-harm or severe suicidal ideation are at elevated risk of self-harm as well as dying by suicide. It is well established that suicidal ideation fluctuates over time. Safety plans in paper format are mandatory part of the treatment regime in the suicide preventive clinics in Denmark. The aim of the trial is to compare the paper version of the safety plan with a new-developed app in reducing suicide ideation and other symptoms, as an add-on to the supportive psychotherapy delivered in the clinics.

Hypothesis: It is hypothesized that participants randomized to MYPLAN will have lower suicide ideation as well as improvements on the secondary outcomes than users who have the paper version.

Methods: The trial is designed as a 2-arm observer-blinded parallel group randomized clinical superiority trial, where participants will either receive: 1) Experimental intervention: the safety plan provided as the app MYPLAN, or 2) Treatment as Usual: the safety plan in the original paper format. Both intervention groups will also receive standard psychosocial therapeutic care, up to 8-10 sessions of supportive psychotherapy.Based on a power calculation a total of 546 participants, 273 in each arm will be included. They will be recruited from national suicide preventive clinics. Follow-ups will be conducted at 3, 6, 9, and 12 months after date of inclusion.

Participants, inclusion and exclusion criteria: There is no age restriction on participation in the study and all participants will be recruited from the suicide prevention clinics in Denmark. These clinics are highly specialized outpatient care centers, offering short-term supportive psychotherapy and social counselling for suicidal patients. In order to participate in the study, participants must have a smartphone (IPhone or android phone) and understand sufficient Danish to use MYPLAN. Persons having a particularly severe alcohol or substance abuse disorder, which might inflict with skills of orientation and memorywill not be offered participation in the RCT.

Outcomes Patient reported outcomes (PROM) are collected at baseline and follow-up through self-administered tablet/internet-based questionnaires. Primary outcome is suicide ideation. Secondary outcomes are:, hopelessness, depressive symptoms, quality of life, and modified CSQ-8.

Statistical analysis: Data analysis will be based on intention-to-treat principle. We will examine this using repeated measurement in mixed models. Missing data will be handled with multiple imputations.

The trial will start in November 2016 and patient recruitment is expected to finish November 2017. Analysis and results are expected in 2018.

Conditions

• Suicide Prevention
• Suicidal Thoughts
• Suicide Attempts

Interventions

OTHER

MYPLAN-safety plan as an application for smart phones

MYPLAN app as a integral part of the standard treatment

OTHER

safety plan on paper

Standard treatment with safety plan on paper

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Mental Health Services in the Capital Region, Denmark

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Merete Nordentoft, MD, Ph.D MSc · Mental Health Center Copenhagen

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2016-10-31

Primary Completion

2022-11-30

Completion

2022-11-30

Countries

• Denmark

Study Locations