The DOI matches its Crossref record; 67 of the 68 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Can Postdischarge Follow-Up Contacts Prevent Suicide and Suicidal Behavior?: A Review of the Evidence
Abstract
Background: The time period following discharge from inpatient psychiatry and emergency department (ED) treatment is one of heightened risk for repeat suicide attempts for patients. Evidence reported in the literature shows that follow-up contacts might reduce suicide risk, although there has not been a comprehensive and critical review of the evidence to date. Aims: To evaluate evidence for the effectiveness of suicide prevention interventions that involve follow-up contacts with patients. Methods: Published empirical studies of follow-up interventions with suicidal behaviors (suicide, attempts, and ideation) as outcomes were searched. Study populations were inpatient psychiatric or ED patients being discharged to home. Contact modalities included phone, postal letter, postcards, in-person, and technology-based methods (e-mail and texting). Results: Eight original studies, two follow-up studies, and one secondary analysis study met inclusion criteria. Five studies showed a statistically significant reduction in suicidal behavior. Four studies showed mixed results with trends toward a preventative effect and two studies did not show a preventative effect. Conclusions: Repeated follow-up contacts appear to reduce suicidal behavior. More research is needed, however, especially randomized controlled trials, to determine what specific factors might make follow-up contact modalities or methods more effective than others.
Overview
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
In the citing paper
“Although there is a paucity of randomized clinical trials on follow-up interventions for suicidal patients, existing research generally suggests that follow-up contacts may reduce repeat suicide attempts and prevent death by suicide for patients discharged from inpatient or emergency departments.76,79,80”
From Evidence-based youth suicide prevention and intervention in pediatric primary care settings. (2024) · cites this paper as [79]
Citations
Cites
The need to belong: Desire for interpersonal attachments as a fundamental human motivation.
Baumeister, R. F., & Leary, M. R. (1995) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037//0033-2909.117.3.497 · Cited by 23,245
The interpersonal theory of suicide.
Van Orden, K. A., Witte, T. K., Cukrowicz, K. C., Braithwaite, S. R., Selby, E. A., & Joiner, T. E. (2010) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/a0018697 · Cited by 5,292
Joiner, T. E. (2007) · Harvard University Press eBooks · doi:10.2307/j.ctvjghv2f · Cited by 2,891
Suicide Prevention Strategies: A Systematic Review
Mann, J. J., Apter, A., Bertolote, J., Beautrais, A., Currier, D., Haas, A., Hegerl, U., Lonnqvist, J., Malone, K., Marusic, A., et al. (2005) · JAMA · doi:10.1001/jama.294.16.2064 · Cited by 2,852
Fatal and non-fatal repetition of self-harm: Systematic review
Owens, D., Horrocks, J., & House, A. (2002) · British Journal of Psychiatry · doi:10.1192/bjp.181.3.193 · Cited by 1,241
Reducing Suicide--A National Imperative
(2002) · PsycEXTRA Dataset · doi:10.1037/e719942007-001 · Cited by 947
Suicide Risk in Relation to Psychiatric Hospitalization: Evidence Based on Longitudinal Registers
Qin, P., & Nordentoft, M. (2005) · Archives of General Psychiatry · doi:10.1001/archpsyc.62.4.427 · Cited by 620
Marital status and suicide in the National Longitudinal Mortality Study
Kposowa, A. J. (2000) · Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health · doi:10.1136/jech.54.4.254 · Cited by 524
A randomized controlled trial of postcrisis suicide prevention.
Motto, J. A., & Bostrom, A. G. (2001) · Psychiatric Services · doi:10.1176/appi.ps.52.6.828 · Cited by 517
Fleischmann, A. (2008) · Bulletin of the World Health Organization · doi:10.2471/blt.07.046995 · Cited by 470
Suicide within 12 months of contact with mental health services: national clinical survey
Appleby, L., Shaw, J., Amos, T., McDonnell, R., Harris, C., McCann, K., Kiernan, K., Davies, S., Bickley, H., & Parsons, R. (1999) · BMJ · doi:10.1136/bmj.318.7193.1235 · Cited by 469
Suicide after discharge from psychiatric inpatient care
Goldacre, M., Seagroatt, V, & Hawton, K. (1993) · The Lancet · doi:10.1016/0140-6736(93)91822-4 · Cited by 380
Suicide in Prisoners: A Systematic Review of Risk Factors
Fazel, S., Cartwright, J., Norman-Nott, A., & Hawton, K. (2008) · The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry · doi:10.4088/jcp.v69n1107 · Cited by 368
Vaïva, G., Walter, M., Arab, A. S. A., Courtet, P., Bellivier, F., Demarty, A.-L., Duhem, S., Ducrocq, F., Goldstein, P., & Libersa, C. (2011) · BMC Psychiatry · doi:10.1186/1471-244x-11-1 · Cited by 306
Goldney, R. D. (2008) · Cited by 306
Vaiva, G., Vaiva, G., Ducrocq, F., Meyer, P., Mathieu, D., Philippe, A., Libersa, C., & Goudemand, M. (2006) · BMJ · doi:10.1136/bmj.332.7552.1241 · Cited by 279
Life events and psychosocial factors in elderly suicides—A case-control study
RUBENOWITZ, E., WAERN, M., WILHELMSON, K., & ALLEBECK, P. (2001) · Psychological Medicine · doi:10.1017/s0033291701004457 · Cited by 277
The Role of Social Isolation in Suicide
Trout, D. L. (1980) · Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior · doi:10.1111/j.1943-278x.1980.tb00693.x · Cited by 270
Carter, G. L., Clover, K., Whyte, I. M., Dawson, A. H., & Este, C. D. (2005) · BMJ · doi:10.1136/bmj.38579.455266.e0 · Cited by 270
De Leo, D., Buono, M. D., & Dwyer, J. (2002) · British Journal of Psychiatry · doi:10.1192/bjp.181.3.226 · Cited by 246
Recent life events, Social support and suicide
Heikkinen, M., Aro, H., & Lönnqvist, J. K. (1994) · Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica · doi:10.1111/j.1600-0447.1994.tb05805.x · Cited by 246
Poor social integration and suicide: Fact or artifact? A case-control study
DUBERSTEIN, P. R., CONWELL, Y., CONNER, K. R., EBERLY, S., EVINGER, J. S., & CAINE, E. D. (2004) · Psychological Medicine · doi:10.1017/s0033291704002600 · Cited by 246
Suicide in mental health in-patients and within 3 months of discharge
Meehan, J., Kapur, N., Hunt, I. M., Turnbull, P., Robinson, J., Bickley, H., Parsons, R., Flynn, S., Burns, J., Amos, T., et al. (2006) · The British Journal of Psychiatry · doi:10.1192/bjp.188.2.129 · Cited by 245
Further Suicidal Behavior Among Medically Serious Suicide Attempters
Beautrais, A. L. (2004) · Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior · doi:10.1521/suli.34.1.1.27772 · Cited by 226
Reducing Suicide: A National Imperative
Wong, N. (2003) · American Journal of Psychiatry · doi:10.1176/appi.ajp.160.8.1534 · Cited by 225
Suicide in recently discharged psychiatric patients: a case-control study
Hunt, I. M., Kapur, N., Webb, R., Robinson, J., Burns, J., Shaw, J., & Appleby, L. (2009) · Psychological Medicine · doi:10.1017/s0033291708003644 · Cited by 212
Hickey, L., Hawton, K. E., Fagg, J., & Weitzel, H. (2001) · Journal of Psychosomatic Research · doi:10.1016/s0022-3999(00)00225-7 · Cited by 206
Carter, G. L., Clover, K. A., Whyte, I. M., Dawson, A. H., & D’Este, C. A. (2007) · The British Journal of Psychiatry · doi:10.1192/bjp.bp.107.038406 · Cited by 202
Suicidal Ideation in College Students Varies Across Semesters: The Mediating Role of Belongingness
Orden, K. A. V., Witte, T. K., James, L. M., Castro, Y., Gordon, K. H., Braithwaite, R. S., Hollar, D. L., & Joiner, T. E. (2008) · Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior · doi:10.1521/suli.2008.38.4.427 · Cited by 200
Bolton, J. M., Pagura, J., Enns, M. W., Grant, B., & Sareen, J. (2010) · Journal of Psychiatric Research · doi:10.1016/j.jpsychires.2010.01.003 · Cited by 183
Social Forces in Urban Suicide.
Kinsey, B. A., & Maris, R. W. (1970) · American Sociological Review · doi:10.2307/2093285 · Cited by 183
Secondary Prevention of Non-fatal Deliberate Self-harm: The Green Card Study
Morgan, H. G., Jones, E. M., & Owen, J. H. (1993) · British Journal of Psychiatry · doi:10.1192/bjp.163.1.111 · Cited by 175
Appleby, L., Dennehy, J. A., Thomas, C. S., Faragher, E. B., & Lewis, G. (1999) · The Lancet · doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(98)10014-4 · Cited by 172
Suicide attempts among individuals with opiate dependence: The critical role of belonging
Conner, K. R., Britton, P. C., Sworts, L. M., & Joiner, T. E. (2007) · Addictive Behaviors · doi:10.1016/j.addbeh.2006.09.012 · Cited by 153
Suicide Prevention for High‐Risk Persons Who Refuse Treatment *
Motto, J. A. (1976) · Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior · doi:10.1111/j.1943-278x.1976.tb00880.x · Cited by 150
Heeringen, C. V., Jannes, S., Buylaert, W. A., Henderick, H., Bacquer, D. D., & Remoortel, J. V. (1995) · Psychological Medicine · doi:10.1017/s0033291700037454 · Cited by 145
The Suicide Risk of Discharged Psychiatric Patients
Ho, T. (2003) · The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry · doi:10.4088/jcp.v64n0613 · Cited by 142
Psychosocial treatments of suicidal behaviors: A practice‐friendly review
Comtois, K. A., & Linehan, M. M. (2006) · Journal of Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1002/jclp.20220 · Cited by 139
Self-citationEthnic minority suicide: a small area geographical study in south London
NEELEMAN, J., & WESSELY, S. (1999) · Psychological Medicine · doi:10.1017/s003329179800806x · Cited by 138
Suicide Among Women Related to Number of Children in Marriage
Høyer, G. (1993) · Archives of General Psychiatry · doi:10.1001/archpsyc.1993.01820140060006 · Cited by 137
Emergency departments are underutilized sites for suicide prevention
Larkin, G. L., & Beautrais, A. L. (2010) · Crisis · doi:10.1027/0227-5910/a000001 · Cited by 133
Social connections and suicidal thoughts and behavior.
You, S., Orden, K. A. V., & Conner, K. R. (2010) · Psychology of Addictive Behaviors · doi:10.1037/a0020936 · Cited by 132
Hassanian-Moghaddam, H., Sarjami, S., Kolahi, A.-A., & Carter, G. L. (2011) · British Journal of Psychiatry · doi:10.1192/bjp.bp.109.067199 · Cited by 131
Joiner, T. E., Hollar, D., & Orden, K. V. (2006) · Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1521/jscp.2006.25.2.179 · Cited by 131
Lower suicide rates associated with a Tele-Help/Tele-Check service for the elderly at home
Leo, D. D., Carollo, G., & Buono, M. D. (1995) · American Journal of Psychiatry · doi:10.1176/ajp.152.4.632 · Cited by 129
Technology-Based Suicide Prevention: Current Applications and Future Directions
Luxton, D. D., June, J. D., & Kinn, J. T. (2011) · Telemedicine Journal and e-Health · doi:10.1089/tmj.2010.0091 · Cited by 124
Self-citationCedereke, M., Monti, K., & Öjehagen, A. (2002) · European Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/s0924-9338(02)00632-6 · Cited by 123
Postcard intervention for repeat self-harm: randomised controlled trial.
Beautrais, A. L., Gibb, S. J., Faulkner, A., Fergusson, D. M., & Mulder, R. T. (2010) · British Journal of Psychiatry · doi:10.1192/bjp.bp.109.075754 · Cited by 120
Repetition of Suicide Attempts
Bertolote, J. M., Fleischmann, A., Leo, D. D., Phillips, M. R., Botega, N. J., Vijayakumar, L., Silva, D. D., Schlebusch, L., Nguyen, V. T., Sisask, M., et al. (2010) · Crisis · doi:10.1027/0027-5910/a000052 · Cited by 118
Depression, Behavioral and Directive Intervention Strategies
Clarkin, J. F., & Glazer, H. I. (1981) · Medical Entomology and Zoology · Cited by 108
Protective Factors for Suicidal Black Females
Nisbet, P. A. (1996) · Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior · doi:10.1111/j.1943-278x.1996.tb00836.x · Cited by 108
Joiner, T. E., & Van Orden, K. A. (2008) · International Journal of Cognitive Therapy · doi:10.1680/ijct.2008.1.1.80 · Cited by 106
Variations in the hospital management of self harm in adults in England: observational study
Bennewith, O., Gunnell, D., Peters, T., Hawton, K. E., & House, A. O. (2004) · BMJ · doi:10.1136/bmj.328.7448.1108 · Cited by 103
Bennewith, O., Peters, T. J., Hawton, K. E., House, A. O., & Gunnell, D. (2005) · Journal of Affective Disorders · doi:10.1016/j.jad.2005.08.011 · Cited by 88
Crisis card following self-harm: 12-month follow-up of a randomised controlled trial
Evans, J., Evans, M., Morgan, H. G., Hayward, A., & Gunnell, D. (2005) · The British Journal of Psychiatry · doi:10.1192/bjp.187.2.186 · Cited by 87
Joiner, T. E., & Orden, K. A. V. (2008) · International Journal of Cognitive Therapy · doi:10.1521/ijct.2008.1.1.80 · Cited by 85
Suicide Intervention Research: A Field in Desperate Need of Development
Linehan, M. M. (2008) · Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior · doi:10.1521/suli.2008.38.5.483 · Cited by 78
Risk factors for suicide in the immediate post-discharge period
Kan, C.-K., Ho, T.-P., Dong, J. Y. S., & Dunn, E. L. W. (2007) · Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology · doi:10.1007/s00127-006-0153-0 · Cited by 71
Marital Breakdown, Parenthood, and Suicide⋆
Cantor, C. H., & Slater, P. J. (1995) · Journal of Family Studies · doi:10.5172/jfs.1.2.91 · Cited by 69
Suicide in the 12 months after discharge from psychiatric inpatient care, Scotland 1968-92.
Geddes, J. R., Juszczak, E., O’Brien, F., & Kendrick, S. W. (1997) · Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health · doi:10.1136/jech.51.4.430 · Cited by 61
Postcards, green cards and telephone calls: Therapeutic contact with individuals following self-harm
Kapur, N., Cooper, J., Bennewith, O., Gunnell, D., & Hawton, K. (2010) · British Journal of Psychiatry · doi:10.1192/bjp.bp.109.072496 · Cited by 55
A Pilot Study of Mobile Telephone Message Interventions with Suicide Attempters in China
Chen, H., Mishara, B. L., & Liu, X. X. (2010) · Crisis · doi:10.1027/0227-5910/a000017 · Cited by 55
Darke, S., Williamson, A., Ross, J., & Teesson, M. (2005) · Drug and Alcohol Dependence · doi:10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2004.10.009 · Cited by 54
Monti, K., Cedereke, M., & Öjehagen, A. (2003) · Archives of Suicide Research · doi:10.1080/13811110301581 · Cited by 43
Luxton, D. D., Kinn, J. T., June, J. D., Pierre, L. W., Reger, M. A., & Gahm, G. A. (2011) · Crisis · doi:10.1027/0227-5910/a000093 · Cited by 36
Self-citationS.A.F.E.R.: A Follow-Up Service for Attempted Suicide in Vancouver
Termansen, P. E., & Bywater, C. (1975) · Canadian Psychiatric Association Journal · doi:10.1177/070674377502000106 · Cited by 26
Oh What a Year 2010 Was! Impact on Telemedicine and e-Health
Doarn, C. R., & Merrell, R. C. (2011) · Telemedicine Journal and e-Health · doi:10.1089/tmj.2011.9997 · Cited by 10
Research works printed but not linked: 4
- 10.1037/0033-2909.117.3.497 · DOI · Paper page
- Goldney R., 1998, Archives of Suicide Research, 4, 329
- Skopp N. A., 2011, Handbook for the treatment of PTSD in military personnel, 288
- van Heeringen K., 1992, Italian Journal of Suicidology, 2, 79
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Suicide and suicidal behaviour
Turecki, G., & Brent, D. A. (2016) · The Lancet · doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(15)00234-2 · Cited by 2,338
Psychosocial interventions for self-harm in adults
Hawton, K. E., Witt, K., Salisbury, T. T., Arensman, E., Gunnell, D., Hazell, P., Townsend, E., & van Heeringen, K. (2016) · Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews · doi:10.1002/14651858.cd012189 · Cited by 319
Suicide risk assessment and intervention in people with mental illness
Bolton, J. M., Gunnell, D., & Turecki, G. (2015) · BMJ · doi:10.1136/bmj.h4978 · Cited by 294
Adaptation of evidence‐based suicide prevention strategies during and after the COVID ‐19 pandemic
Wasserman, D., Iosue, M., Wuestefeld, A., & Carli, V. (2020) · World Psychiatry · doi:10.1002/wps.20801 · Cited by 307
Recommendations for the ethical use and design of artificial intelligent care providers
Luxton, D. D. (2014) · Artificial Intelligence in Medicine · doi:10.1016/j.artmed.2014.06.004 · Cited by 243
Self-citation
Metadata
- Authors
- Luxton, D. D., June, J. D., & Comtois, K. A.
- Affiliations
- United States Department of Defense (US)
- University of Washington (US)
- Venue
- Crisis
- Publisher
- Hogrefe Publishing Group
- Published
- 2013-01-01
- Volume
- 34
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 32-41
- ISSN
- 0227-5910 (ISSN-L)
- 2151-2396
- OpenAlex
- W1898056456
- Semantic Scholar
- 1daa7ff43a495144b03afe64c8ce754f8bedc63f
- Cited by
- 218
- References
- 68
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 16 · 2024: 11 · 2023: 20 · 2022: 22 · 2021: 18 · 2020: 11 · 2019: 27 · 2018: 20 · 2017: 15 · 2016: 19 · 2015: 18 · 2014: 11 · 2013: 4
- FWCI
- 11.95
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Crisis (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Suicide and Self-Harm Studies
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychiatric care and mental health services
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Homicide, Infanticide, and Child Abuse
- Keywords
- suicide prevention, follow-up contact, suicide attempts, suicidal ideation, post-discharge care, emergency department discharge, telephone follow-up, suicide risk
- MeSH terms
- Suicide Prevention, Humans, Patient Discharge, Social Support, Suicide, Attempted, Correspondence as Topic
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review