Postcard intervention aims to reduce suicide risk

Melbourne researchers are investigating interventions to reduce suicide in at-risk adolescents, including a monthly postcard that enquires about their wellbeing. A study at the Orygen Youth Health Centre will recruit participants aged 15-24 with who present with a history of suicidal ideation/attempts or deliberate self-harm, but are not considered to need immediate hospital admission. They will be interviewed and randomly allocated to an intervention or control group. The postcard will include information on sources of help and evidence-based self-help strategies, as well as checking on their wellbeing. Participants will be reassessed at 12 and 18 months. “People at risk of suicide are often excluded from trials because of the ethical implications of denying treatment to this population. However, if the postcard intervention is shown to be effective it could be used as a control treatment when testing other, more intensive interventions,” the researchers wrote in BMC Psychiatry. “This intervention, while clearly no substitute for treatment, may be a useful supplement, or alternative when people refuse other forms of treatment or do not meet the criteria for specialist care… It could also be used following discharge from services, a time when risk is known to be elevated, they concluded”. BMC Psychiatry 2009; published online before print...