Piloting +Connection is Medicine / The Healing Spirits Program

Summary

This study aims to assess what benefit, if any, an individualized coping plan and facilitating connections to care through referral coordination in conjunction with culturally tailored caring messages, (herein called the +Connection is Medicine intervention (Navajo Nation study name; +CiM)/The Healing Spirits Program (White Mountain Apache Tribe Study Name; HSP) have on the mental health of American Indian (AI) youth and caregivers who were previously identified as having high levels of anxiety and depression as part of their participation in a cohort study called Project SafeSchools (NIH Grant No.: OT2HD107543).

Conditions

• Mental Health Issue
• Depressive Symptoms
• Anxiety

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Safety Planning Intervention

The Safety Planning Intervention is a brief intervention that directly targets suicide risk with demonstrated efficacy and is a recommended best practice for suicide prevention. The intervention aims to provide participants with an individualized set of steps that can be used progressively to both reduce risk and maintain safety when under particular stress. It also includes a series of brief telephone calls to revise the safety plan and facilitate connections to care. The study team will adapt the intervention to target a larger range of mental health distress.

BEHAVIORAL

Caring Contacts

Caring contacts is a cost and time effective suicide prevention intervention. It traditionally utilizes letters and postcards that are sent to an individual to remind them that they are cared about and that they matter. Research suggests that this intervention significantly reduces the likelihood of dying by suicide and suicide attempt over a person's lifetime. This intervention has the potential to reach more individuals at risk in the community. In this study, the research team will allow participants to receive these messages by postcard/MMS and will adapt the intervention to align with cultural values.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• National Institutes of Health Clinical Center (CC)

  collaborator NIH

• Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)

  collaborator NIH

• Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Emily Haroz, PhD · Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

11 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2022-08-24

Primary Completion

2023-06-30

Completion

2023-06-30

Countries

• United States

Study Locations