A Mobile Health Approach for Improving Outcomes in Suicide Prevention (SafePlan)

Abstract

Background Suicide is a prominent cause of death worldwide, particularly among young people. It was the second leading cause of death among those aged 15-29 years globally in 2016. Treatment for patients with suicidal thoughts or behaviors often includes face-to-face psychological therapy with a mental health professional. These forms of interventions may involve maintaining and updating paper-based reports or worksheets in between sessions. Mobile technology can offer a way to support the implementation of evidence-based psychological techniques and the acquisition of protective coping skills. Objective This study aims to develop a mobile app to facilitate service users’ access to mental health support and safety planning. This process involved eliciting expert input from clinicians who are actively engaged in the provision of mental health care. Methods A survey was distributed to targeted health care professionals to determine what features should be prioritized in a new mobile app relating to suicide prevention. On the basis of the survey results, a clinical design group, comprising 6 members with experience in fields such as mobile health (mHealth), clinical psychology, and suicide prevention, was established. This group was supplemented with further input from additional clinicians who provided feedback over three focus group sessions. The sessions were centered on refining existing app components and evaluating new feature requests. This process was iterated through regular feedback until agreement was reached on the overall app design and functionality. Results A fully functional mobile app, known as the SafePlan app, was developed and tested with the input of clinicians through an iterative design process. The app’s core function is to provide an interactive safety plan to support users with suicidal thoughts or behaviors as an adjunct to face-to-face therapy. A diary component that facilitates the generalization of skills learned through dialectical behavior therapy was also implemented. Usability testing was carried out on the final prototype by students from a local secondary school, who are representative of the target user population in both age and technology experience. The students were asked to complete a system usability survey (SUS) at the end of this session. The mean overall SUS rating was 71.85 (SD 1.38). Conclusions The participatory process involving key stakeholders (clinicians, psychologists, and information technology specialists) has resulted in the creation of an mHealth intervention technology that has the potential to increase accessibility to this type of mental health service for the target population. The app has gone through the initial testing phase, and the relevant recommendations have been implemented, and it is now ready for trialing with both clinicians and their patients.

Exploring the experiences of mental health professionals engaged in the adoption of mobile health technology in Irish mental health services

“…The current data, along with broader stakeholder engagement [46], has informed the development of Safe-Plan (a mobile app-based safety planning intervention designed to be used as an adjunct to therapy), and the implementation of a Pilot Randomized Control Trial of this intervention within Irish public mental health services.…”

“…The current authors have researched the use of mobile health technology in suicide prevention [44,45], and have engaged stakeholders across mental health services, technology, and suicide prevention policy in the design and development of SafePlana Safety Planning app, designed to be used as an adjunct to therapy for individuals aged 16-35 years who are currently accessing mental health services [46]. Members of the research team have also studied the use of Artificial Intelligence and large datasets, in furthering our understanding of suicide risk [47,48].…”

Suicide Prevention in Your Pocket: A Systematic Review of Ecological Momentary Interventions for the Management of Suicidal Thoughts and Behaviors

“…The intraclass correlation coefficient among reviewers was 78.9 (95% confidence interval, 77.4–80.3). The characteristics and main findings of the reviewed studies are presented in Tables 1 and 2 15–41 …”

Governance nell’innovazione: Sanità Digitale, Mobile Health, Big Data, Virtual Reality

“…La mobile Health presenta app programmate da un team multidisciplinare e multiprofessionale con lo scopo di prevenire il suicidio. Questa app ha la caratteristica di supportare l'interazione paziente-professionista utilizzando le migliori pratiche basate su dati validi (39).…”