Cited by 251Suicide and Self-Harm StudiesPsychiatric care and mental health servicesEmergency and Acute Care Studies

An emergency department intervention for linking pediatric suicidal patients to follow-up mental health treatment

Open access
Asarnow, Joan Rosenbaum, Baraff, Larry J., Berk, Michele, Grob, Charles S., Devich-Navarro, Mona, Suddath, Robert, Piacentini, John C., Rotheram-Borus, Mary Jane +2 more·2011·Psychiatric Services

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Suicide is the third leading cause of death among adolescents. Many suicidal youths treated in emergency departments do not receive follow-up treatment as advocated by the National Strategy for Suicide Prevention. Two strategies for improving rates of follow-up treatment were compared. METHODS: In a randomized controlled trial, suicidal youths at two emergency departments (N=181; ages ten to 18) were individually assigned between April 2003 and August 2005 to one of two conditions: an enhanced mental health intervention involving a family-based cognitive-behavioral therapy session designed to increase motivation for follow-up treatment and safety, supplemented by care linkage telephone contacts after emergency department discharge, or usual emergency department care enhanced by provider education. Assessments were conducted at baseline and approximately two months after discharge from the emergency department or hospital. The primary outcome measure was rates of outpatient mental health treatment after discharge. RESULTS: Intervention patients were significantly more likely than usual care patients to attend outpatient treatment (92% versus 76%; p=.004). The intervention group also had significantly higher rates of psychotherapy (76% versus 49%; p=.001), combined psychotherapy and medication (58% versus 37%; p=.003), and psychotherapy visits (mean 5.3 versus 3.1; p=.003). Neither the emergency department intervention nor community outpatient treatment (in exploratory analyses) was significantly associated with improved clinical or functioning outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: Results support efficacy of the enhanced emergency department intervention for improving linkage to outpatient mental health treatment but underscore the need for improved community outpatient treatment to prevent suicide, suicide attempts, and poor clinical and functioning outcomes for suicidal youths treated in emergency departments.

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Crossref · 10.1176/ps.62.11.pss6211_1303

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  • Suicide ideation was designated as a primary outcome in zero studies and as a secondary outcome in 3 studies.

    “SI was designated as a primary outcome in zero studies and designated as a secondary outcome in 3 studies.35,38,40”

    From Safety Planning Interventions for Suicide Prevention in Children and Adolescents (2025) · cites this paper as [35]

    The Methods (Outcome Measures) identify treatment linkage as this study’s primary outcome, consistent with suicidal ideation not being primary. But they designate suicide attempts—not suicidal ideation—as the secondary outcome; ideation was measured to provide additional detail on suicidality. This single paper also cannot establish the citing document’s count of three studies. (LLM, conf=0.85)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • In controlled trials with children and adolescents, control conditions were often vaguely defined and sometimes involved elements of safety planning to varying degrees, although results were consistent whether these studies were removed or included.

    “In controlled trials with children and adolescents,35,38,39,40,42,43,44 control conditions were often vaguely defined and sometimes involved elements of safety planning to varying degrees, although results were consistent whether these studies were removed (Figure 2) or included (eFigure in Supplement 1).”

    From Safety Planning Interventions for Suicide Prevention in Children and Adolescents (2025) · cites this paper as [35]

    Split into 2 atoms — 1 confirmed, 1 partially supported, 0 disputed, 0 misattributed, 0 unverifiable. Expand the claim to see per-atom verdicts.

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  • Based on study-level results, adolescents who received family-based interventions had lower rates of re-presentation and were more likely to be linked to outpatient mental health services after discharge compared with adolescents who received treatment as usual.

    “Based on study-level results, adolescents who received interventions that were family-based had lower rates of re-presentation44 and were more likely to be linked to outpatient mental health services after discharge35 compared with adolescents who received treatment as usual.”
  • Suicide-related behavior was designated as a primary outcome in 1 study and a secondary outcome in 2 studies.

    “SRB was designated as a primary outcome in 1 study44 and a secondary outcome in 2 studies.35,38”
  • Suicide attempts were designated as a primary outcome in 1 study and a secondary outcome in 1 study.

    “SA was designated as a primary outcome in 1 study40 and a secondary outcome in 1 study.35”

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1 of the 41 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Research works printed but not linked: 1

  1. [2]U.S. Public Health Service National strategy for suicide prevention: Goals and objectives for action Rockville, MD U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 2001 20669520

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Authors
Asarnow, J. R., Baraff, L. J., Berk, M., Grob, C. S., Devich-Navarro, M., Suddath, R., Piacentini, J. C., Rotheram-Borus, M. J., Cohen, D., & Tang, L.
Affiliations
  • University of California, Los Angeles (US)
  • Harbor–UCLA Medical Center (US)
  • Santa Monica College (US)
  • Dr. Suddath, Dr. Piacentini, Dr. Rotheram-Borus, and Dr. Tang are with the Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, UCLA.
  • Johns Hopkins University (US)
Venue
Psychiatric Services
Published
2011-11
Volume
62
Issue
11
Pages
1303-1309
ISSN
  • 0022-1597 (ISSN-L)
  • 1075-2730
  • 1557-9700
OpenAlex
W2170748745
Cited by
251
References
41
Citations by year
2026: 15 · 2025: 20 · 2024: 18 · 2023: 24 · 2022: 16 · 2021: 28 · 2020: 19 · 2019: 20 · 2018: 11 · 2017: 15 · 2016: 21 · 2015: 9 · 2014: 19 · 2013: 12 · 2012: 4
FWCI
12.05
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Psychiatric Services (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
Funders
  • U.S. Public Health Service (CCR921708)
  • National Institute of Mental Health (R34MH078082, P30MH082760, R01MH082856)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Suicide and Self-Harm Studies
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychiatric care and mental health services
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Emergency Medicine › Emergency and Acute Care Studies
Keywords
adolescent suicide, suicide prevention, emergency department care, provider education, suicide attempts
MeSH terms
Suicide Prevention, Adolescent, Ambulatory Care, Child, Community Mental Health Services, Depressive Disorder, Emergency Service, Hospital, Family Therapy, Female, Humans, Male, Patient Acceptance of Health Care, Patient Discharge, Pilot Projects, Regression Analysis, Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic, Suicide, Suicide, Attempted, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Treatment Outcome, Young Adult, Suicidal Ideation

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