None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
Suicide is the most common cause of death in Australians aged 15 to 44 years, however, only 28% of adolescents and young adults with suicidal thoughts and/or attempts sought help from health professionals. Smartphone app-based psychological treatments for suicidal thoughts have the potential to reduce obstacles in help-seeking by providing accessible, anonymous, and timely support. As such, Black Dog Institute has developed the LifeBuoy app, which was developed based on Dialectical Behaviour Therapy and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, and was informed by young people with lived experience of suicidal thoughts and/or suicidal behaviours. The aim of this trial was to evaluate whether the app is effective in reducing suicidal ideation, depression and anxiety symptoms among young people. It is hypothesized that participants who used the app will report greater reductions in suicidal ideation, depression, and anxiety symptoms compared to those in control condition.
Interventions
Intervention condition
The intervention will be provided digitally to individuals through the Lifebuoy app, which is a fully automated, self-help program for young people experiencing mild-to-moderate symptoms of suicidal ideation. The app was developed by researchers at the Black Dog Institute based on the feedback from young people with lived experience of suicidal thoughts and/or suicidal behaviours. Participants will download the app from the App Store or Google Play onto their personal smar
Intervention condition The intervention will be provided digitally to individuals through the Lifebuoy app, which is a fully automated, self-help program for young people experiencing mild-to-moderate symptoms of suicidal ideation. The app was developed by researchers at the Black Dog Institute based on the feedback from young people with lived experience of suicidal thoughts and/or suicidal behaviours. Participants will download the app from the App Store or Google Play onto their personal smartphones. Once the app is downloaded, it will not require internet connection; internet connectivity will only be required to upload usage and adherence data to UNSW servers. The app contains seven modules derived from Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and incorporates behavioural activation principles (distress tolerance, emotion regulation/mindfulness, interpersonal effectiveness), followed by an interactive learning exercise to help young people develop strategies and problem-solving skills for managing suicide thoughts. Participants will have 6 weeks to complete the seven modules at their home or locations of their choice and at their own pace, each module will take approximately 3-7 minutes. The user will be directed to each module linearly and unlocking a new module will require completion of the previous one (this also is the gamification of the app, as island ‘light up’ or become technicolour when complete). The information will be provided in text or interactive quizzes. Participants’ level of adherence to the Lifebuoy app will be assessed by the number of modules completed. Control condition Participants in the matched attention condition will be given an app that looks the same as LifeBuoy but only contains information about physical health. Please refer to field regarding control treatment for more details.
Sponsors
University of New South Wales
Study design
Allocation
Randomised controlled trial
Intervention model
Parallel
Primary purpose
Treatment
Masking
Blinded (masking used) (Subject, Caregiver, Investigator, Outcomes Assessor)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
16 Years to 25 Years
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
Young adults aged between 16 and 25 years with suicidal ideation in the past year, who own and have access to a smartphone, and are living in Australia and fluent in English will be recruited to participate in this study.
Exclusion criteria
Young adults who have been diagnosed with psychosis or bipolar disorder or have suicide attempt in the past month will be excluded from the study.
Outcome results
None listed