SuicideNCT05837026
A Health System/Community Partnership for Enhanced Outreach to Prevent Suicide Attempts
A study testing Enhanced Outreach Intervention (EOI) plus Care as Usual (CAU) and Care as Usual (CAU) in people with Suicide and Suicide, Attempted, run by Massachusetts General Hospital.
Trial summary
The goal of this study is to test an enhanced outreach intervention (EOI) delivered by Samaritans of Boston (a community organization that provides support during mental health crises) for people after they leave an emergency department (ED) visit for suicidal thoughts. Read more about this study
- Who is it for?
- Ages 18 years and older
- Conditions the study is for
- Suicide, Suicide, Attempted, Suicidal Ideation
- What is being tested?
- Enhanced Outreach Intervention (EOI) plus Care as Usual (CAU) and Care as Usual (CAU)
- Type of treatment
- Lifestyle or therapy programme
- Could I receive a placebo?
- No, everyone receives an active treatment
- How many people
- 300 participants
- Where
- No sites listed yet
- Study dates
- Jun 2026to Nov 2027
- Phase
- Interventional
- Are there results?
- Not yet: the study is under way
Key requirements
Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.
- Ages 18 years and older
- All sexes
- No healthy volunteers
- Adult, Older adult
Who may be able to join
- Currently a patient being treated and evaluated by psychiatry service in an MGB ED
- Participants enrolled in another study (NCT05671133; PI Nock) conducted by the research team who fall into the top 50% of risk based on the suicide risk prediction algorithm used in that study
- Able to read English
- Ownership of a smartphone (iOS or Android) and consistent access to their smartphone following discharge from the current treatment unit or program; ability to be reliably contacted
- Willing to provide contact information for collateral contact
- Willing to share contact information and key clinical information with Samaritans of Boston
- Consent to unencrypted text or email communications
- Willing to provide social security number (SSN) or individual taxpayer identification number (ITIN) for study compensation
Who cannot join
- Any factor that impairs an individual's ability to comprehend and effectively participate in informed consent, including the presence of gross cognitive impairment due to florid psychosis, intellectual disability, dementia, or acute intoxication
- Presence of extremely agitated or violent behavior at the time of consent or enrollment
Trial locations and contacts
No sites are listed yet. Contact the study team or a site near you to ask about taking part.
Rebecca Fortgang, PhD contact
About this study
Official title: Randomized Controlled Trial of Health System/Community Partnership for Enhanced Outreach to Prevent Suicide Attempts
The goal of this study is to test an enhanced outreach intervention (EOI) delivered by Samaritans of Boston (a community organization that provides support during mental health crises) for people after they leave an emergency department (ED) visit for suicidal thoughts. The main questions it aims to answer are:
- Does the EOI reduce suicide-related behaviors?
- Does the EOI increase outpatient treatment attendance?
- Is the EOI acceptable and feasible?
- Can the EOI be delivered with fidelity by Samaritans?
Read more
Participants will be randomized to the EOI plus care as usual or care as usual alone. Participants in the EOI plus care as usual group will:
- Receive outreach (by call or text) at a planned time once per week for the next 12 weeks. During these conversations, Samaritans staff will ask participants questions about their suicidal thoughts and behaviors, develop and review a list of coping skills to use if they have suicidal thoughts, and discuss plans for receiving mental health care.
- Receive caring messages from Samaritans staff at least once per week.
- Receive standard care that hospitals give for patients who present with suicidal thoughts.
- Be asked to complete monthly self-report questionnaires.
For care as usual alone, participants will:
- Receive standard care that hospitals give for patients who present with suicidal thoughts.
- Be asked to complete monthly self-report questionnaires.
Read the detailed description
The period after discharge from an emergency department (ED) is a critical time of increased risk for suicide and related behavior (SRB). Brief "caring contact" interventions that provide follow-up and support after a healthcare visit have been shown to reduce SRB and are now recommended best practices for suicide prevention in healthcare systems. However, system- and individual-level barriers to widespread implementation exist. For example, deployment of brief contact interventions requires dedicated resources and staffing within already overburdened healthcare settings, and even single-session interventions require robust provider training and ongoing oversight for successful implementation.
The purpose of this study is to evaluate a recently developed Enhanced Outreach Intervention (EOI) for post-ED discharge that combines multiple evidence-based suicide prevention components (e.g., safety planning, risk assessment, caring contacts, and care engagement) and is delivered through a partnership between a healthcare system (Mass General Brigham [MGB]) and a local crisis line organization (Samaritans of Boston). Combining multiple evidence-based interventions has the potential to increase effectiveness over usual practices, and partnering with a community organization vastly increases scalability.
Samaritans staff will undergo robust, multifaceted training on the EOI, and use standardized decision trees to guide EOI delivery. The investigators will conduct a randomized controlled trial (N=300) of the EOI plus care as usual versus care as usual alone after ED discharge to test effectiveness of the EOI and collect data on implementation-related factors. The investigators will also explore potential moderators of intervention effects, including age, sex, race/ethnicity, and predicted risk of suicide attempt at baseline.
- Conditions
- Suicide, Suicide, Attempted, Suicidal Ideation
- Being tested
- Enhanced Outreach Intervention (EOI) plus Care as Usual (CAU), Care as Usual (CAU)
- Keywords
- Suicide, Suicidal Thoughts
- Medical subject headings
- Suicide, Suicide, Attempted, Suicidal Ideation
What participants receive
What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.
Enhanced Outreach Intervention (EOI) plus Care as Usual (CAU)Behavioural
The EOI will contain four main components: safety planning, caring contacts, care engagement, and risk assessment.
Outreach (via phone or text messaging) from Samaritans staff will be conducted every week of the 12 week intervention. Conversations will use a standardized phone script to (a) conduct a risk assessment, (b) develop and review a list of coping skills to use if the participant has suicidal thoughts, and (c) discuss plans for receiving mental health care. Samaritans staff will also send a caring text message or email at least once per week.
Participants will also receive standard care that hospitals provide to patients who present with suicidal thoughts.
Care as Usual (CAU)Other
Participants will receive standard care that hospitals provide to patients who present with suicidal thoughts.
| Study group | Role | What they receive |
|---|---|---|
| Enhanced Outreach Intervention plus Care as Usual (CAU) | Experimental | Participants will receive the Enhanced Outreach Intervention (EOI) plus care as usual for 12 weeks after ED discharge. Receives: Behavioral: Enhanced Outreach Intervention (EOI) plus Care as Usual (CAU) |
| Care as Usual (CAU) | Other | Participants will receive the standard care (i.e., CAU) that the hospital provides to patients who present with suicidal thoughts. Receives: Other: Care as Usual (CAU) |
What is being measured
The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.
Number of Suicide Attempts
Whether or not a suicide attempt occurs during the 12-week intervention period will be captured by manual review of electronic health records and the Self-Injurious Thoughts \& Behaviors Interview (SITBI).
Measured: 4 weeks
Number of Suicide Attempts
Whether or not a suicide attempt occurs during the 12-week intervention period will be captured by manual review of electronic health records and the Self-Injurious Thoughts \& Behaviors Interview (SITBI).
Measured: 8 weeks
Number of Suicide Attempts
Whether or not a suicide attempt occurs during the 12-week intervention period will be captured by manual review of electronic health records and the Self-Injurious Thoughts \& Behaviors Interview (SITBI).
Measured: 12 weeks
Secondary outcomes (3)
Treatment Attendance
Treatment attendance during the 12-week intervention period will be captured by manual review of electronic health records and participant-reported outcome survey.
Measured: 4 weeks, 8 weeks, and 12 weeks
Depressive Symptoms
Depressive symptoms will be measured using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9). The scale values ranges from 0 to 3. Higher total scores mean more severe symptoms.
Measured: Baseline, 4 weeks, 8 weeks, and 12 weeks
Intensity of Suicidal Ideation
The intensity of suicidal ideation will be measured using the Beck Scale for Suicide Ideation (BSS). The scale values ranges from 0 to 2. Higher scores mean more intense suicidal ideation.
Measured: Baseline, 4 weeks, 8 weeks, and 12 weeks
Timeline
From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.
- First posted1 May 2023
- Study startJun 2026 (estimated)
- Primary completionNov 2027 (estimated)
- Study completionNov 2027 (estimated)
Resources
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govThe registry entry this page is built from, with its full change history.
- Publications (4)Papers the sponsor has linked to this study.
- Other trials for SuicideStudies of the same condition, open and under way.
- More trials run by Massachusetts General HospitalThe sponsor's other registered studies.
- What the trial phases meanHow a treatment moves from first tests in people to approval.
More details
For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.
Study design
- Study type
- Interventional
- Phase
- Phase N/A
- Primary purpose
- Prevention
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Model description
- Effectiveness-implementation Hybrid Type 1 randomized trial. Participants will be randomized to EOI plus care as usual (CAU) or CAU alone using an equal (1:1) allocation ratio.
- Masking
- None (open label)
- Enrolment
- 300 participants (estimated)
Sponsor and investigators
- Lead sponsor
- Massachusetts General Hospital
- Sponsor type
- University, hospital or other
- Collaborators
- National Institutes of Health (NIH), Samaritans of Boston
- Responsible party
- Principal investigator, Jordan W. Smoller, MD, Massachusetts General Hospital
- Investigators
- Jordan Smoller, MD, ScD, Principal investigator, Massachusetts General Hospital
IDs, dates and publications
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT05837026
- Sponsor's protocol ID
- 2023P000611-B
- Status last verified
- Jan 2026
- First submitted
- 11 Apr 2023
- Last updated
- 27 Jan 2026
- Results posted
- No
- Data monitoring committee
- Yes
- FDA-regulated drug
- No
- FDA-regulated device
- No
- Individual data sharing
- No
Publications
Doupnik SK, Rudd B, Schmutte T, Worsley D, Bowden CF, McCarthy E, Eggan E, Bridge JA, Marcus SC. Association of Suicide Prevention Interventions With Subsequent Suicide Attempts, Linkage to Follow-up Care, and Depression Symptoms for Acute Care Settings: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. JAMA Psychiatry. 2020 Oct 1;77(10):1021-1030. doi: 10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2020.1586.
PubMed 32584936Milner AJ, Carter G, Pirkis J, Robinson J, Spittal MJ. Letters, green cards, telephone calls and postcards: systematic and meta-analytic review of brief contact interventions for reducing self-harm, suicide attempts and suicide. Br J Psychiatry. 2015 Mar;206(3):184-90. doi: 10.1192/bjp.bp.114.147819.
PubMed 25733570National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention: Transforming Health Systems Initiative Work Group. Recommended standard care for people with suicide risk: Making health care suicide safe. Education Development Center, Inc. Published online 2018.
Office of the Surgeon General (OSG). The Surgeon General's Call to Action to Implement the National Strategy for Suicide Prevention [Internet]. Washington (DC): US Department of Health and Human Services; 2021-. Available from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK592704/
PubMed 37347878
Study at a glance
From the registry record, last updated by the sponsor on 27 Jan 2026. Recruitment status is as the sponsor reported it: confirm with the study team.
- Official title
- Randomized Controlled Trial of Health System/Community Partnership for Enhanced Outreach to Prevent Suicide Attempts
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT05837026
- Acronym / sponsor ID
- 2023P000611-B
- Conditions
- Suicide, Suicide, Attempted, Suicidal Ideation
- Keywords
- Suicide, Suicidal Thoughts
- Study type
- Interventional
- Recruitment status
- Not yet recruiting
- Enrolment
- 300 participants (estimated)
- Lead sponsor
- Massachusetts General HospitalUniversity, hospital or other
- Collaborators
- National Institutes of Health (NIH), Samaritans of Boston
- Study start
- Jun 2026 (estimated)
- Primary completion
- Nov 2027 (estimated)
- Study completion
- Nov 2027 (estimated)
- First posted
- 1 May 2023 (actual)
- Results
- Not posted in the source record
Clinical summary
The research question as the sponsor registered it. This describes what the study plans to test, not what it found.
The goal of this study is to test an enhanced outreach intervention (EOI) delivered by Samaritans of Boston (a community organization that provides support during mental health crises) for people after they leave an emergency department (ED) visit for suicidal thoughts. The main questions it aims to answer are:
- Does the EOI reduce suicide-related behaviors?
- Does the EOI increase outpatient treatment attendance?
- Is the EOI acceptable and feasible?
- Can the EOI be delivered with fidelity by Samaritans?
Participants will be randomized to the EOI plus care as usual or care as usual alone. Participants in the EOI plus care as usual group will:
- Receive outreach (by call or text) at a planned time once per week for the next 12 weeks. During these conversations, Samaritans staff will ask participants questions about their suicidal thoughts and behaviors, develop and review a list of coping skills to use if they have suicidal thoughts, and discuss plans for receiving mental health care.
- Receive caring messages from Samaritans staff at least once per week.
- Receive standard care that hospitals give for patients who present with suicidal thoughts.
- Be asked to complete monthly self-report questionnaires.
For care as usual alone, participants will:
- Receive standard care that hospitals give for patients who present with suicidal thoughts.
- Be asked to complete monthly self-report questionnaires.
Detailed description
The period after discharge from an emergency department (ED) is a critical time of increased risk for suicide and related behavior (SRB). Brief "caring contact" interventions that provide follow-up and support after a healthcare visit have been shown to reduce SRB and are now recommended best practices for suicide prevention in healthcare systems. However, system- and individual-level barriers to widespread implementation exist. For example, deployment of brief contact interventions requires dedicated resources and staffing within already overburdened healthcare settings, and even single-session interventions require robust provider training and ongoing oversight for successful implementation.
The purpose of this study is to evaluate a recently developed Enhanced Outreach Intervention (EOI) for post-ED discharge that combines multiple evidence-based suicide prevention components (e.g., safety planning, risk assessment, caring contacts, and care engagement) and is delivered through a partnership between a healthcare system (Mass General Brigham [MGB]) and a local crisis line organization (Samaritans of Boston). Combining multiple evidence-based interventions has the potential to increase effectiveness over usual practices, and partnering with a community organization vastly increases scalability.
Samaritans staff will undergo robust, multifaceted training on the EOI, and use standardized decision trees to guide EOI delivery. The investigators will conduct a randomized controlled trial (N=300) of the EOI plus care as usual versus care as usual alone after ED discharge to test effectiveness of the EOI and collect data on implementation-related factors. The investigators will also explore potential moderators of intervention effects, including age, sex, race/ethnicity, and predicted risk of suicide attempt at baseline.
Study design
- Primary purpose
- Prevention
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Masking
- None (open label)
- Number of arms
- 2
- Model description
- Effectiveness-implementation Hybrid Type 1 randomized trial. Participants will be randomized to EOI plus care as usual (CAU) or CAU alone using an equal (1:1) allocation ratio.
| Arm | Type | Receives |
|---|---|---|
| Enhanced Outreach Intervention plus Care as Usual (CAU) | Experimental | Behavioral: Enhanced Outreach Intervention (EOI) plus Care as Usual (CAU)Participants will receive the Enhanced Outreach Intervention (EOI) plus care as usual for 12 weeks after ED discharge. |
| Care as Usual (CAU) | Other | Other: Care as Usual (CAU)Participants will receive the standard care (i.e., CAU) that the hospital provides to patients who present with suicidal thoughts. |
Who may qualify
- Ages
- 18 years and older
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Not accepted
- Age groups
- Adult, Older adult
Key inclusion criteria (8 listed)
- Currently a patient being treated and evaluated by psychiatry service in an MGB ED
- Participants enrolled in another study (NCT05671133; PI Nock) conducted by the research team who fall into the top 50% of risk based on the suicide risk prediction algorithm used in that study
- Able to read English
- Ownership of a smartphone (iOS or Android) and consistent access to their smartphone following discharge from the current treatment unit or program; ability to be reliably contacted
- Willing to provide contact information for collateral contact
Key exclusion criteria (2 listed)
- Any factor that impairs an individual's ability to comprehend and effectively participate in informed consent, including the presence of gross cognitive impairment due to florid psychosis, intellectual disability, dementia, or acute intoxication
- Presence of extremely agitated or violent behavior at the time of consent or enrollment
Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening; this overview does not establish that a patient qualifies. Full inclusion and exclusion criteria.
Interventions
| Intervention | Type | Arms |
|---|---|---|
| Enhanced Outreach Intervention (EOI) plus Care as Usual (CAU)The EOI will contain four main components: safety planning, caring contacts, care engagement, and risk assessment. Outreach (via phone or text messaging) from Samaritans staff will be conducted every week of the 12 week intervention. Conversations will use a standardized phone script to (a) conduct a risk assessment, (b) develop and review a list of coping skills to use if the participant has suicidal thoughts, and (c) discuss plans for receiving mental health care. Samaritans staff will also send a caring text message or email at least once per week. Participants will also receive standard care that hospitals provide to patients who present with suicidal thoughts. | Behavioural | Enhanced Outreach Intervention plus Care as Usual (CAU) |
| Care as Usual (CAU)Participants will receive standard care that hospitals provide to patients who present with suicidal thoughts. | Other | Care as Usual (CAU) |
Primary outcome
Number of Suicide Attempts
Time frame: 4 weeks
Whether or not a suicide attempt occurs during the 12-week intervention period will be captured by manual review of electronic health records and the Self-Injurious Thoughts \& Behaviors Interview (SITBI).
Number of Suicide Attempts
Time frame: 8 weeks
Whether or not a suicide attempt occurs during the 12-week intervention period will be captured by manual review of electronic health records and the Self-Injurious Thoughts \& Behaviors Interview (SITBI).
Number of Suicide Attempts
Time frame: 12 weeks
Whether or not a suicide attempt occurs during the 12-week intervention period will be captured by manual review of electronic health records and the Self-Injurious Thoughts \& Behaviors Interview (SITBI).
3 secondary outcomes
Treatment Attendance
Time frame: 4 weeks, 8 weeks, and 12 weeks
Depressive Symptoms
Time frame: Baseline, 4 weeks, 8 weeks, and 12 weeks
Intensity of Suicidal Ideation
Time frame: Baseline, 4 weeks, 8 weeks, and 12 weeks
Results and safety
This study is still under way. Results are not available in the source record yet.
Research links
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govLast updated by the sponsor 27 Jan 2026.
- Background: PubMed 32584936Doupnik SK, Rudd B, Schmutte T, Worsley D, Bowden CF, McCarthy E, Eggan E, Bridge JA, Marcus SC. Association of Suicide Prevention Interventions With Subsequent Suicide Attempts, Linkage to Follow-up Care, and Depression Symptoms for Acute Care Settings: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. JAMA Psychiatry. 2020 Oct 1;77(10):1021-1030. doi: 10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2020.1586.
- Background: PubMed 25733570Milner AJ, Carter G, Pirkis J, Robinson J, Spittal MJ. Letters, green cards, telephone calls and postcards: systematic and meta-analytic review of brief contact interventions for reducing self-harm, suicide attempts and suicide. Br J Psychiatry. 2015 Mar;206(3):184-90. doi: 10.1192/bjp.bp.114.147819.
- BackgroundNational Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention: Transforming Health Systems Initiative Work Group. Recommended standard care for people with suicide risk: Making health care suicide safe. Education Development Center, Inc. Published online 2018.
- Background: PubMed 37347878Office of the Surgeon General (OSG). The Surgeon General's Call to Action to Implement the National Strategy for Suicide Prevention [Internet]. Washington (DC): US Department of Health and Human Services; 2021-. Available from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK592704/
- Individual participant dataSharing planned: No
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Referral and contact
AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals. Contact the study team or a site listed below; they decide who can take part.
Rebecca Fortgang, PhD contact
Jordan Smoller, MD, ScD principal investigator
Massachusetts General Hospital
Questions about this trial
What is this clinical trial studying?
A study testing Enhanced Outreach Intervention (EOI) plus Care as Usual (CAU) and Care as Usual (CAU) in people with Suicide and Suicide, Attempted, run by Massachusetts General Hospital.
The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.
Who may be eligible to take part?
The sponsor lists 8 inclusion and 2 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.
Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?
The record says: opening soon, as of the sponsor's last update on 27 Jan 2026. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.
What are the possible benefits and risks?
They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.
Are results available for this study?
This study is still under way. Results are not available in the source record yet.
How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?
Contact Kate Bentley, PhD (617-724-7741, kbentley@mgh.harvard.edu), or a site near the patient. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.
What does the primary outcome measure?
Number of Suicide Attempts (time frame: 4 weeks). The study lists 3 primary outcomes in all. It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.
Where can I read the original study information?
On the ClinicalTrials.gov record for NCT05837026, which also lists 4 linked publications.
Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?
No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.
How often is this information updated?
AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 27 Jan 2026.