Family-based intervention needed for teen suicide prevention
By Liz Lockhart
In the United States more than 4.600 people aged between 10 and 24 take their own lives annually. This 
makes suicide the third leading cause of death in this age group.
Furthermore, the youths treated at A & E hospital departments for suicidal behaviour, remain at very high risk of recurrent attempts. There is an urgent need for mental health follow-up care but many do not receive this after their discharge from hospital.
A new study by researchers from UCLA suggests that specialised mental health intervention for suicidal young people can help. The study is published in the journal Psychiatric Services.
Family-based intervention conducted while troubled youths are still being treated in hospital leads to dramatic improvements in linking these youths to outpatient facilities following their discharge, according to Joan Asarnow, a professor of psychiatry at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behaviour at UCLA and colleagues.
‘Youths who are treated for suicidal behaviour in emergency departments are at very high risk for future attempts,’ said Asarnow, the study’s lead author. ‘Because a large proportion of youths seen in the emergency department for suicide don’t receive outpatient treatment after discharge, the U.S. National Strategy for Suicide Prevention identifies the emergency department as an important suicide prevention site. So, a national objective is to increase the rates of mental health follow-up treatment for suicidal patients coming out of emergency departments.’
One problem which needs to be resolved is how to encourage this with young people when they are in such a vulnerable state.
This study involved 181 suicidal young people at two emergency departments (EDs) in Los Angeles County.
Further details of the participants:
- The average age of the participants was 15
- 69% of the participants were female
- 67% were from racial or ethnic minority groups
- 53% of the participants visited the ED due to suicide attempt
- The remainder were seen because of suicidal thoughts
The youths were randomly assigned to either the usual ED treatment or to an enhanced mental health intervention. The enhanced intervention included family-based therapy sessions designed to increase motivation to attend outpatient follow-p treatment and also to improve the young person’s safety. This was achieved through telephone contacts aimed at supporting families by linking them to further outpatient treatment.
The study shows that the enhanced mental health intervention resulted in higher rates of follow-up treatment. 92% of the participants in the enhanced treatment group received follow-up treatment after discharge. Only 76% of participants in the standard ED treatment group received follow-up treatment which represents a clinically significant difference.
The study is only a first step but provides positive results according to Asarnow. ‘The results underscore the urgent need for improved community outpatient treatment for suicidal youths,’ she said.
‘Unfortunately, the follow-up data collected at about two months after discharge did not indicate clinical or functioning differences among youths who received community outpatient treatment and those who did not,’ she added.
The data from the new study emphasises the critical importance of this work, Asarnow concluded.
