e-Connect: A Service System Intervention for Justice Youth at Risk for Suicide

Summary

The investigators propose to create e-Connect, a new service delivery model that will enable real time identification and targeted, county-specific referral and linkage of participants with suicidal behavior (SB) and related behavioral health (BH) problems. e-Connect will: (i) establish and formalize interagency referral decisions based on clinical need, jointly derived by JJ (juvenile justice) and BH agencies; (ii) train probation staff to increase BH/SB understanding; (iii) utilize an existing evidence-based (EB) BH/SB screen; and (iv) develop a mobile application to seamlessly integrate screening, classification of clinical need and development of a related referral plan. There are 4 project phases: Development, Baseline, Implementation, and Sustainment/Evaluation. After development, activities take place in 10 NY (New York) counties and all study counties will begin the intervention at the same time. The investigators will examine changes in outcomes (e.g., service use) relative to baseline in (i) identification of participants service need (SB and BH correlates) in juvenile probationers; (ii) cross-system (probation-BH agency) referral; and (iii) participants BH service use (access and engagement). Analyses will further consider contributions of multi-level factors (e.g., staff, organizational, family, and community) that influence implementation (feasibility, acceptability, sustainability) of e-Connect across various probation department processing categories (e.g. status offenders, diversion cases). The investigators will consider the role of mediating elements (e.g., probation practices) in explaining the association between e-Connect and identification, referral, and service use.

Conditions

• Suicide

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

e-Connect

e-Connect

Sponsors & Collaborators

• George Mason University

  collaborator OTHER

• National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)

  collaborator NIH

• Chestnut Health Systems

  collaborator OTHER

• Columbia University

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Katherine Elkington, PhD · Columbia University/New York State Psychiatric Institute

Study Design

Allocation

NON_RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

NONE

Model

SEQUENTIAL

Eligibility

Min Age

10 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2019-08-01

Primary Completion

2025-06-30

Completion

2025-12-01

Countries

• United States

Study Locations