A blended face-to-face and smartphone intervention for suicide prevention in the construction industry (MATESMobile): protocol for a randomized controlled trial with MATES in Construction.

Introduction Mates in Construction (MATES) is an industry-based multi-component prevention and early intervention program, consistent with the Australian National Suicide Prevention Strategy. The core component of the MATES training is the General Awareness Training (GAT), a 45-minute face-to-face awareness session on ‘suicidality and associated help seeking behaviour’ provided to all construction workers on site. The other components of MATES programs include training to the gatekeepers, field officers, and case managers but they are outside the scope of this study. MATESmobile program will send information about suicide prevention literacy, help offering skills and help seeking behaviour through text based messages and online videos. Intervention After completion of standard GAT face-to-face training, we will allocate participants to intervention and control groups. Those allocated to the MATESmobile program (intervention group) will be contacted via smartphone application every two weeks for 8 weeks with information about how to access the program. We will conduct baseline assessment (a longer survey) prior to the 8 week intervention, followed by smaller assessments at 3, 6 and 12 months. The controls will receive all components of GAT training but would not be allocated to the program content via MATESmobile. Participants in both conditions will complete online surveys (following the written baseline survey), which will be delivered to their smart phone via “alerts”. The “alerts” will re-direct respondents to an online survey. The surveys will be confidential, but not anonymous, as we will need to link baseline to follow up surveys, which will be done using mobile telephone numbers. Identifying information will also enable personalized re-contacts for non-response (which may be conducted via email and/or text messaging). The app will be available on Android, iOS and Windows mobile systems. The MATESmobile app will send reminders to complete the online survey for participants in both groups. If individuals do not complete a survey within three days of receiving it, they will receive a text message reminder every three days to encourage them to take the survey. A total of 3 text messages will be sent. If the participant has still not responded within three days after the final text message, the Program Manager will phone them once and contact them directly.