CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 37Suicide and Self-Harm StudiesPsychiatric care and mental health servicesPersonality Disorders and Psychopathology

Reduction of Postdischarge Suicidal Behavior Among Adolescents Through a Telephone-Based Intervention

Rengasamy, Manivel, Sparks, Garrett·2019·Psychiatric Services
DOI 10.1176/appi.ps.201800421
Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Brief telephone follow-up for a patient with suicidal tendencies after he or she has been discharged from an emergency room or hospital has been shown to decrease subsequent suicide attempts. However, despite the high rate of suicidal behavior in adolescents, this intervention has not been examined in this population. As part of a quality improvement intervention, postdischarge telephone contacts were used to attempt to reduce suicidal behavior and inpatient rehospitalizations among adolescents. METHODS: Adolescents who were hospitalized for suicidal ideation or attempt (N=142) were randomly assigned to one of two telephone interventions delivered over a 90-day period: either a single call intervention (SCI) or a multiple calls intervention (MCI). The intervention consisted of assessment of suicidality, review of safety plan, and discussion of medication and weapon safety, with up to six telephone contacts in the MCI and up to one contact in the SCI. Primary outcome measures included suicidal behavior and inpatient rehospitalizations; secondary outcome measures included adolescents' confidence in their safety plan. RESULTS: Adolescents receiving the MCI had a significantly lower rate of suicidal behavior (6%) compared with adolescents receiving SCI (17%; odds ratio [OR]=0.28, p=0.037); results persisted while the analysis controlled for relevant covariates (OR=0.25, p=0.032). Similarly, adolescents receiving the MCI reported significantly greater confidence in their safety plan at 90 days (95%vs. 74%; p=0.001), which, in turn, was associated with a lower rate of suicidal behavior (OR=0.95, p=0.019). CONCLUSIONS: A telephone-based intervention for providing recurrent follow-up soon after discharge is feasible in the adolescent population and may be effective in reducing postdischarge suicidal behavior.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1176/appi.ps.201800421

Cites

28 of 28 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

We couldn’t retrieve this paper’s full text, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

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?

  • Only 3 studies had adequate-sized samples to compare treatment effects across groups; 2 of these used true randomization, and neither found significant between-group differences in suicide-related outcomes.

    “Only 3 studies35,42,44 had adequate-sized samples to compare treatment effects across groups; 2 of these studies35,44 used true randomization, and neither found significant between-group differences in suicide-related outcomes.”

    From Safety Planning Interventions for Suicide Prevention in Children and Adolescents (2025) · cites this paper as [42]

  • Results for all outcomes were consistent with those of the full sample after removal of non-RCT-designed studies and on inclusion of studies that involved any SPI component in the control condition.

    “Results for all outcomes were consistent with those of the full sample after removal of non–RCT-designed studies and on inclusion of studies that involved any SPI component in the control condition39,42 (eFigure in Supplement 1).”

    From Safety Planning Interventions for Suicide Prevention in Children and Adolescents (2025) · cites this paper as [42]

  • Increased follow-up phone contact with patients in the week after discharge and higher quality safety plans may be linked to improved outcomes.

    “In addition, increased follow-up phone contact with patients in the week after discharge42 and higher quality safety plans (ie, incorporating all key SPI components)36 may also be linked to improved outcomes.”

    From Safety Planning Interventions for Suicide Prevention in Children and Adolescents (2025) · cites this paper as [42]

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

Authors
Rengasamy, M., & Sparks, G.
Affiliations
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (US)
ORCID
Venue
Psychiatric Services
Publisher
American Psychiatric Association Publishing
Published
2019-07-01
Volume
70
Issue
7
Pages
545-552
ISSN
  • 0022-1597 (ISSN-L)
  • 1075-2730
  • 1557-9700
DOI
10.1176/appi.ps.201800421
OpenAlex
W2931347711
Cited by
36
References
28
Citations by year
2026: 4 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 2
FWCI
3.80
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
  • Psychiatric Services (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 › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Personality Disorders and Psychopathology
Keywords
adolescent suicide, suicidal behavior, post-discharge follow-up, telephone-delivered intervention, safety planning, suicidal ideation, suicide attempts, drug safety, weapon safety, hospital discharge
MeSH terms
Adolescent, Adolescent Behavior, Aftercare, Feasibility Studies, Female, Humans, Male, Outcome and Process Assessment, Health Care, Patient Discharge, Patient Readmission, Suicide, Attempted, Telephone, Suicidal Ideation

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