Suicide prevention for ED attendees with a substance use disorder
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Development of a new way of helping Emergency Department attenders presenting with self-harm and a substance use disorder: a Delphi method study
IRAS ID
270428
Contact name
Paul Moran
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Bristol
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 6 months, 1 days
Research summary
Research has shown that brief talking therapies can significantly reduce the risk of suicide in people who present to a hospital emergency department (ED) after self-harm. However, while people with a substance use disorder (including alcohol) are at a much higher risk of suicide compared with people without, we do not know if brief treatments reduce the risk of suicide among this group. Our study aims to develop and later test a brief intervention that is designed to reduce the risk of suicide among people who present to ED after self-harm, and who have a substance use disorder. This ethics application is for intervention development only. An additional application for intervention testing will be submitted once the intervention has been developed. \n\nTo begin the intervention development, we will update a review of the literature on interventions for anyone presenting to ED with self-harm. We will then conduct two workshops, one comprising of professionals and another of patients, to whom we will present the existing findings. During these workshops we will seek consensus on the statements to be included in the Delphi survey. A wider sample of both patients and professionals will then be asked to answer up to three rounds of surveys using an online portal, in which they’ll be asked to prioritise items for inclusion in the design of the intervention. Participants will be asked to re-rate items in subsequent rounds for which there has been a lack of consensus. Anonymised participant feedback for each question from the previous round is included within the survey in subsequent rounds. \n\nPlease note, in this summary, self-harm refers to both non-suicidal self-injury and non-fatal suicide attempts.
REC name
South West - Frenchay Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
19/SW/0220
Date of REC Opinion
16 Jan 2020
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion