An intensive outpatient program for suicidal college students.

Objective: College counseling centers (CCCs) have limited capacity to accommodate high-risk students who need more intensive care than traditional outpatient treatment. We describe an Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP) to meet the specialized needs of suicidal undergraduates. Participants: Suicidal undergraduates aged 18-24. Methods: Fact-gathering meetings with local universities confirmed high need for prompt access to IOP care for students presenting in crisis at CCCs and emergency rooms, and post-inpatient discharge. We thus iteratively designed and implemented the College Option Services for Teens at Risk (COSTAR) IOP. Results: The 6-week program includes initial diagnostic evaluation and risk assessment followed by weekly skills groups, individual therapy, and medication management. Between September 2017 and January 2020, 148 students (M age = 19.7) attended an average of 5.7 COSTAR group sessions (SD = 4.7). Conclusions: A specialty IOP for suicidal college students holds promise in a stepped care approach for at-risk college students.

As Safe as Possible (ASAP): A Brief App-Supported Inpatient Intervention to Prevent Postdischarge Suicidal Behavior in Hospitalized, Suicidal Adolescents.

OBJECTIVE: The authors report on a pilot study of an inpatient intervention for suicidal adolescents, As Safe as Possible (ASAP), supported by a smartphone app (BRITE) to reduce suicide attempts following hospital discharge. METHOD: Across two sites, 66 adolescents hospitalized for suicidal ideation (N=26) or a recent suicide attempt (N=40) were randomly assigned to the ASAP intervention program plus treatment as usual or to treatment as usual alone. ASAP, which focuses on emotion regulation and safety planning, is a 3-hour intervention delivered on the inpatient unit. The BRITE app prompted participants to rate their level of emotional distress on a daily basis and provided personalized strategies for emotion regulation and safety planning. A blind, independent evaluator assessed suicide attempts following hospital discharge and suicidal ideation at 4, 12, and 24 weeks after discharge. RESULTS: The ASAP intervention did not have a statistically significant effect on suicide attempt, although findings were in the hypothesized direction for occurrence of an attempt (16% compared with 31%; χ2=1.86, df=1, g=-0.36) and time to an attempt (hazard ratio=0.49, 95% CI=0.16, 1.47). Past history of a suicide attempt was a significant moderator of treatment outcome, with a stronger, albeit nonsignificant, effect of the ASAP intervention among participants with a history of suicide attempt (hazard ratio=0.23, 95% CI=0.05, 1.09). There were no treatment effects on suicidal ideation. The majority of participants (70%) used the BRITE app (median usage, 19 times). Participants reported high satisfaction with both the intervention and the app. CONCLUSIONS: The ASAP intervention program shows promise in reducing the incidence of postdischarge suicide attempts among adolescents hospitalized for suicidality and merits further study.