Feasibility Study of a Combined Intervention for Suicidal Inpatients in Psychiatric Crisis Units.

Official title

Peer-Aid and Hope Box: A Feasibility Study of a Combined Intervention for Suicidal Patients Hospitalized in a Psychiatric Crisis Unit

Overview

Since 2014, suicide prevention has been a national priority and is one of the 3 priority areas of the mental health plan's roadmap . Hospitalization offers a crucial opportunity for life-preserving intervention . Brief health interventions and contacts are reputed to be easy to implement, effective and inexpensive . The Hope Box is a practical emotional management tool that aims to encourage the expression of reasons for living by materializing them in a customizable box, filled with objects, photos, writings and memories in order to find comfort and hope . Peer support use their experiential knowledge of disorders and recovery to accompany people and help humanize care . They can play a decisive role in suicide prevention . In contrast to an approach focusing only on risk factors, peer support and the Hope Box are both focus on protective factors, the strengths of the people concerned and hope. The primary objective of this study is to evaluate the feasibility of the HOPAIR intervention (peer-support and Hope Box, completed by a reminder postcard) with suicidal people hospitalized in psychiatric crisis units. Its secondary objective is to assess the potential effectiveness on intensity of hopelessness, sense of self-efficacy, reasons for living, perceived social support and suicidal recurrence at 3 months. This is a mixed-methods study involving 40 patients and 2 peer support in two crisis hospitalization units.

Detailed description

Around 703,000 people die by suicide each year worldwide, with suicide prevention being a national priority in France since 2014. The period after a patient is discharged from the hospital is a particularly high-risk time for suicide, especially for those with a history of suicide attempts.

This study proposes a new intervention called HOPAIR, which combines three key components:

* Peer support: A professional peer-helper, who has personal experience with mental health challenges, meets with the patient to share their recovery story and foster a sense of hope and connection. * The Hope Box: A personalized box that patients fill with objects, photos, and memories to engage their five senses and serve as a tool for emotional management, comfort, and distraction during times of distress. * A reminder postcard: Sent one month after the initial intervention to reinforce the key concepts of the Hope Box and maintain motivation.

The primary objective of the HOPAIR study is to evaluate the feasibility of this combined intervention for suicidal patients hospitalized in a psychiatric crisis unit. The study also aims to assess the potential effectiveness of HOPAIR on several factors after three months, including:

* Feelings of hopelessness and self-efficacy * Reasons for living * Perceived social support * The presence of suicidal thoughts and repeat suicide attempts The study is a mixed-methods, bi-centric research project that will recruit patients 24-48 hours after admission. The intervention will take place within two to four days of admission, followed by the postcard mailing one month later, and a final evaluation at three months. This evaluation will include re-administering scales to measure the study's objectives and conducting qualitative interviews with a subset of participants to assess their satisfaction with the program.

Interventions

• Other HOPAIR Intervention: Meeting between Peer Helper and Concerned Individual in Psychiatric Crisis Unit
  This intervention begins with an initial discussion focused on the individual's lived experience, followed by an explanation of the Hope Box's principle, utility, and use. After each intervention, the peer supporter will complete a satisfaction self-questionnaire to provide feedback.

Primary outcome measures

• Feasibility Evaluation of the Combined HOPAIR Intervention (Peer Support, Hope Box, and Postcard Reminder) for Suicidal Inpatients in Psychiatric Crisis Units at 3-Month Post-Intervention. [Time frame: 37 months]

Secondary outcome measures (2)

• Effectiveness of the HOPAIR intervention on indicators of well-being at 3 months post-intervention. [Time frame: 37 months]
• Effectiveness of the HOPAIR intervention on indicators of suicidality at 3 months post-intervention. [Time frame: 37 months]

Eligibility criteria

Inclusion criteria

• Major ;
• Hospitalized in a psychiatric crisis unit;
• Having attempted suicide in the month preceding hospitalisation;
• Able to give free and informed consent;
• Having given consent;
• French-speaking person with at least B1 level (reading and writing);
• With access to the technical resources required for the study;
• With a postal address.

Exclusion criteria

• Presenting a relational modality incompatible with the proposed intervention (agitation, acute delirium, major cognitive disorders or psychic disorganisation, etc.);
• Included in another research protocol related to suicide prevention.

Criteria are shown verbatim from the registry (in English). Final eligibility is always assessed by the study center.

Healthy volunteers: No

Study design

Allocation

N/A

Model

Single group

Masking

Open label

Primary purpose

Prevention

Study locations

France · 1 center

• Centre Hospitalier Le Vinatier — Bron

Identifiers

NCT: NCT07119671 · 2025-A00082-47

Primary sources (government registries)

• ClinicalTrials.gov (US NIH)

View this study on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗