Skip to main content
ABCT 2023 Annual Convention Main banner
Final Program


Program Flipbook
Icon Legend
This session is not in your schedule.
This session is in your schedule. Click again to remove it.
Presentation Icons
Ticketed Session
Ticketed Session
Recorded Session
Recorded Session
Back
ViewAttendees 11

Symposia

Suicide and Self-Injury

Session: Increasing the effectiveness of real-time suicide intervention

3 - (SYM 65) Acceptability and Feasibility of an Ecological Momentary Intervention for Managing Emotional Distress Among Psychiatric Inpatients at Risk for Suicide

Saturday, November 18, 2023
10:30 AM – 11:30 AM PST
Location: Skykomish (604), Level 6
The weeks following an inpatient psychiatric hospitalization are known to be the highest-risk time for suicide. Psychological interventions that are well-matched to the dynamic nature of suicidal thoughts and behaviors, and easily implementable during this high-risk time, are urgently needed. We sought to determine the feasibility and acceptability of a novel intervention for managing emotional distress among adult psychiatric inpatients with suicidal thoughts or behaviors (R34MH113757). The intervention combined three brief in-person sessions to teach core cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) skills during hospitalization followed by smartphone-based ecological momentary intervention (EMI) to facilitate real-time practice of the emotion management skills during the 28 days after hospital discharge. Overall, results from this pilot study (N = 26) supported some aspects of feasibility and acceptability of this novel intervention. Regarding feasibility, only 15.1% of all screened inpatients met study eligibility criteria; however most were not eligible due to inpatient stays that were too short and/or suicidal thinking that was not severe enough for the intervention.  Nearly half (48%) of enrolled participants did not receive all three in-person sessions during their hospitalization. Among participants, rates of engagement with the smartphone-based assessment and EMI prompts, however, were encouraging. Regarding acceptability, both quantitative and qualitative data supported the perceived acceptability of the intervention, and provided key recommendations for future iterations. Overall, this study highlights the importance of developing accessible interventions that can be delivered to, and found acceptable by, the widest range of patients hospitalized for suicidal thoughts and behaviors possible. In this presentation, we will also discuss the initial outcomes of an in-progress follow-up trial designed to leverage telehealth to address the issue of study participants not getting all therapeutic content while on the inpatient unit.