Original title: Impact of a Distress Brief Intervention on Suicidal Ideation, Suicide Attempts and Self-harm in the immediate, short and longer term: a mixed method evaluation study protocol
Scotland’s Distress Brief Intervention service offers people in distress contact within 24 hours and 14 days of community-based support. This paper sets out a plan to evaluate whether the service affects suicidal thoughts, suicide attempts, or self-harm. Researchers will compare surveys and health records, interview people who use or deliver the service, and gather views from GPs. They will combine these sources to understand whether the service helps and how it might be improved.
Imagine a neighbour is struggling, so you check in quickly and help them for two weeks. It is hard to know whether they feel safer because of that help, what kind of help mattered, or how things change later. In this paper, the quick check-in and ongoing help correspond to the distress service, while comparing records and listening to people helps assess its effects over time.
People facing acute distress may be at risk of suicidal thoughts or self-harm. This study is designed to assess whether Scotland’s brief support service helps, for whom, and over what time period—evidence that could guide how the service and related care pathways develop.
The abstract describes a study protocol, not completed results. It therefore does not establish whether the service reduces suicidal thoughts, suicide attempts, or self-harm, or what its costs are. Its stated focus is people presenting to front-line services in distress in Scotland, so it does not establish effects in other settings or populations.
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Impact of a Distress Brief Intervention on Suicidal Ideation, Suicide Attempts and Self-harm in the immediate, short and longer term: a mixed method evaluation study protocol — Joanne McLean, Jessica Shields, Josephine M. Wildman et al. — NIHR Open Research — doi:10.3310/nihropenres.13592.2
Abstract licence: CC BY
Explanation generated by Synthesis from the abstract — it is not the original paper.