Pilot Study of a Digital Peer Support Program Using Smartphone Narratives to Help Suicidal Adolescents Aged 14 to 18

What this Trial Is About

This research aims to explore a digital peer support intervention designed to help ethnically diverse adolescents at risk for suicide in underserved communities, particularly in The Bronx, New York. The study evaluates the potential benefits of a brief, culturally responsive program called Supporting Wellbeing with Everyday Experiences of Peers SWEEP. It focuses on youth who have experienced suicidal thoughts and major depressive disorder, addressing the need for accessible mental healthcare. During the study, participants will receive one suicide recovery narrative daily for 14 days through a smartphone app. These narratives, shared in audio and text formats, feature first-person stories about experiences and recovery from suicidal thoughts. Participants will also complete real-time assessments of suicidal thoughts and related outcomes five times daily via the same app. The study includes phases where participants receive the intervention and a control group that completes assessments without the narratives. Participants will engage with the smartphone app daily for two weeks, during which they will read or listen to narratives and respond to assessments multiple times per day. Researchers will measure changes in suicidal thoughts intensity as the primary outcome, along with secondary outcomes such as suicidal urge resistance, social connectedness, optimism, social support, and intervention acceptability. The study tracks these outcomes through frequent self-report surveys delivered via the app, aiming to understand the interventions impact over the 14-day period.

A Pilot Evaluation of a Digital Peer Support Intervention for Suicidal Adolescents