Sleep and Circadian Interventions for College Students at High Risk of Suicide

Summary

The purpose of this study is to examine the extent to which delivering sleep and circadian focused interventions in addition to evidenced based psychiatric care for depression and suicide risk may contribute to decreasing suicide risk among high risk young adults. Investigators will evaluate three interventions targeting sleep in acutely suicidal college students enrolled in intensive outpatient treatment. Participants will be randomly assigned to one of three intervention groups:

1. Triple Chronotherapy (TCT)+ Transdiagnostic Sleep and Circadian Intervention (TSC)
2. Transdiagnostic Sleep and Circadian Intervention (TSC)
3. Sleep Feedback (SF) Participants will be followed for 6 months with primary outcome domains of suicidal thoughts and behaviors and depression evaluated by blinded clinicians at short (Days 1-4 of intervention), medium (2 months) and long (6 month) term intervals.

Conditions

• Sleep Disturbance
• Sleep
• Depression
• Suicide

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Sleep Feedback + Psychoeducation

Participants are provided with an actigraphy watch that is used to monitor their sleep and activity throughout the day and complete a sleep diary daily. Along with wearing the watch they also will be provided access to their actigraphy and sleep diary graphs that document their data on demand via smartphone link.

BEHAVIORAL

Transdiagnostic Sleep and Circadian Intervention + Bright Light (TSC+)

Behavioral: TSC+ • This intervention includes participants attending 6-8 sessions of a manualized sleep intervention with a Sleep Therapist, delivered in person or videoconference, as well as daily bright light therapy (up to one hour daily) and blue light blocking glasses (up to one hour before bedtime)

BEHAVIORAL

Triple Chronotherapy (TCT+)

Behavioral: TCT+ • One night of total sleep deprivation followed by three nights of sleep phase advancement in the sleep lab, daily bright light therapy (up to one hour daily) and blue light blocking glasses (up to one hour before bedtime), in a sleep lab.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• American Foundation for Suicide Prevention

  collaborator OTHER

• University of Pittsburgh

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Tina Goldstein, PhD · University of Pittsburgh

• Peter Franzen · University of Pittsburgh

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Max Age

25 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2026-06-30

Primary Completion

2029-03-31

Completion

2029-03-31

Countries

• United States

Study Locations