The safety planning assistant: Feasibility and acceptability of a web-based suicide safety planning tool for at-risk adolescents and their parents

Suicide safety planning is an intervention to assist individuals with suicide ideation in maintaining safety during a suicidal crisis. However, safety planning with adolescents is complicated by adolescents’ limited access to coping strategies at school and lack of financial means and transportation for social activities. Adolescents also rely on parents for means safety and seeking healthcare services. To address these issues, the Safety Planning Assistant was developed to create personalized safety plans and provide psychoeducation to adolescents and parents. The program consists of two web-based, clinician-administered modules. The aims of this pilot feasibility and acceptability trial were (a) to evaluate whether use of the Safety Planning Assistant resulted in completed safety plans in a timely manner and (b) to evaluate participant satisfaction with the Safety Planning Assistant and completion of the intervention modules. Participants were 15 adolescents who screened positive for suicide risk, 12–17 years of age (M = 14.53 years, SD = 17.73 years) and their parents/guardians. Participants completed pre-treatment, post-treatment, and 1-month follow-up assessments. Results indicated an average time of 48.13 minutes for youth and 31.69 minutes for parents. Adolescents and parents reported a high degree of satisfaction with the intervention. At the follow-up assessment, 73.3% of adolescents reported using their safety plan and 73.3% of parents reported engaging in at least one means safety behavior. Data support the preliminary feasibility of administering safety planning using the web-based tool and the acceptability of the Safety Planning Assistant to both adolescents and their parents.