Circumstances of suicide after registration with a national digital mental health service: an analysis of coroners’ reports

Background: Little is known about the safety of mental healthcare provided remotely by digital mental health services (DMHS), which do not offer face-to-face contact. Aims: To examine the circumstances of suicide by patients registered with a national DMHS. Method: Data from 59 033 consenting patients registered with a national DMHS, the MindSpot Clinic, between 1 January 2013 and […]

Effectiveness of mobile applications as intervention tools in suicidal ideation: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Objective Evaluate the effectiveness of mobile applications developed for intervention in suicide risk in adults. Method Searches for articles were carried out in four databases (PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus and PsychINFO). For the meta-analyses, we used fixed effect modelling to assess the primary outcome. The PROSPERO register is CRD42020163876. Results After applying inclusion and […]

Prevention of suicidal behavior with telemedicine in patients with a recent suicide attempt: Is a 6-month intervention long enough?

Objective To analyze the results of a 6-month telephone follow-up program for the prevention of suicidality in adult patients discharged from three general hospitals after a suicide attempt. Results are compared with traditional programs lasting 12 months or more. Methods This is a prospective, multicenter, study with the control group. Patients in the intervention group received […]

Suicide and telehealth treatments: A PRISMA scoping review

Background This PRISMA scoping review explored worldwide research on the delivery of suicide-specific interventions through an exclusive telehealth modality. Research over telehealth modalities with suicidal individuals highlights the importance of facilitating participants’ access to treatments despite location and circumstances (e.g., rural, expenses related to appointments, etc.). Aim The review sought evidence of outcomes of trials […]

Live-chat support for people bereaved by suicide: A thematic analysis

Background: People bereaved by suicide often face isolation, complicated grief, and increased suicide risk. Aims: We aimed to explore how live-chat can support survivors in their bereavement process. Method: A thematic analysis was carried out on 30 live-chat conversations through the software ATLAS.ti8. Transcripts were retrieved from a major Italian association providing online support. The users had different ages (18–60 […]

Real-world feasibility and acceptability of real-time suicide risk monitoring via smartphones: A 6-month follow-up cohort

Active and passive Ecological Momentary Assessment of suicide risk is crucial for suicide prevention. We aimed to assess the feasibility and acceptability of active and passive smartphone-based EMA in real-world conditions in patients at high risk for suicide. We followed 393 patients at high risk for suicide for six months using two mobile health applications: the MEmind […]

A systematic review of electronic mental health interventions for Indigenous youth: Results and recommendations

Electronic health interventions involve health services delivered using the Internet and related communication technologies. These services can be particularly relevant for Indigenous populations who often have differential access to health-care services compared to general populations, especially within rural and remote areas. As the popularity of electronic health interventions grows, there is an increased need for […]

Solution focused brief therapy telemental health suicide intervention

One of the innumerable impacts of the coronavirus has been the change in how individuals provide services. For mental health providers, the pandemic required a sudden shift from in person to online service delivery. As therapists learn and embrace a new modality for providing therapy, crisis situations may present with some anxiety. With the pandemic […]

Rapid adoption and implementation of telehealth group psychotherapy during COVID 19: Practical strategies and recommendations

Behavioral health services have been tasked with rapidly adopting and implementing teletherapy during the SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 pandemic to assure patient and staff safety. Existing teletherapy guidelines were developed prior to the pandemic and do not capture the nuances of rapidly transitioning in-person individual and group-based treatments to a teletherapy format. In this paper, we describe our […]

Remote supervision and training in suicide prevention during the time of the coronavirus pandemic: Recommendations for training programs and supervisors

The Coronavirus Pandemic (COVID-19) has led to a widespread surge in need for mental health services. At the same time, trainees in health service psychology rapidly transitioned to remote work to protect the safety of themselves, colleagues, and patients from the pandemic. This abrupt switch has led to pioneering advancements in the use of remote […]

Telehealth during COVID-19: Suicide prevention and American Indian communities in Montana

Background: Public health measures that prevent the spread of COVID-19, such as social distancing, may increase the risk for suicide among American Indians due to decreased social connectedness that is crucial to wellbeing. Telehealth represents a potential solution, but barriers to effective suicide prevention may exist. Materials and Methods: In collaboration with Tribal and Urban Indian Health […]

Brief cognitive-behavioral therapy for suicide prevention (BCBT-SP) via video telehealth. A case example during the COVID-19 outbreak

Although veterans living in remote/rural areas are at elevated risk for suicide, there is very little research specific to treating suicidal veterans who present with barriers to in-person care. The current study aims to examine the delivery of brief cognitive-behavioral therapy for suicide prevention (BCBT-SP) via Clinical Video Telehealth (CVT) to the home of a […]

Using telemedicine to reduce suicide ideation and behavior: A systematic literature review

Objective: To review the published research for reported effectiveness of telemedicine in reducing suicide ideation and behavior in patients already diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder. Design: A thorough literature search on the PubMed, Web of Science, PsycInfo, Cochrane Library, and TRIP (Turning Research Into Practice) Medical Database was conducted. Phrases such as “telemedicine,” “telehealth,” “remote […]

Just in time crisis response: Suicide alert system for telemedicine psychotherapy settings

Objective: To design a Natural Language Processing (NLP) algorithm capable of detecting suicide content from patients’ written communication to their therapists, to support rapid response and clinical decision making in telehealth settings. Method: A training dataset of therapy transcripts for 1,864 patients was established by detecting patient content endorsing suicidality using a proxy-model anchored on therapists’ suicide […]