Recruiting

WeCare

Sponsor:

New York University

Code:

NCT05654207

Conditions

Suicidal Ideation

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 12 - 19

Healthy Volunteers: Accepted

Interventions

WeCare

Study Details

Brief summary:

The overall goal of this study is to respond to the urgent need for an effective suicide prevention strategy for Black youth by examining the effectiveness of a systems-level strategy to recognize and respond to suicide risk among Black adolescents who present to emergency departments (EDs). The proposed strategy, WeCare, combines combines three components: (1) universal screening using the Computerized Adaptive Screen for Suicidal Youth (CASSY), (2) a brief intervention designed for Black youth with elevated suicide risk in for ED settings, Connections for Safety (CFS), that combines safety planning and strategies to support linkage to outpatient mental health services, and (3) supportive text messages to youth and parent/caregivers for six weeks following the youth's ED visit. Study objectives are (1) to integrate input from multiple stakeholders to inform and facilitate WeCare implementation, and (2) to use a hybrid one effectiveness-implementation design to evaluate its effectiveness.

Conditions

Suicidal Ideation

Study ID

NCT05654207

Start date

Apr 8, 2024

Status verified date

Apr, 2026

Completion date

Apr 1, 2027

Anticipated

Primary completion date

Apr 1, 2027

Anticipated

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 12 - 19

Healthy Volunteers: Accepted

Inclusion criteria adolescent and parent/guardians:

  • Adolescents aged 12-17 years and their parents or guardians, and adolescents 18-19 years who have the option for their parent or guardian to participate
  • Having a parent/caregiver present in the ED to consent or available to consent remotely (12-17 year olds, only)
  • Having a cellular phone with text messaging capacity
  • Adolescent able to speak English, and understand study questions
  • Parents able to consent in English, Spanish, French or Creole
  • Meet screening criteria

Exclusion criteria adolescent and parent/guardians:

  • Adolescent is medically unstable
  • Adolescent present with severe cognitive impairment
  • Parents are not present in the ED, unable to consent remotely, and not able to give consent in either English, Spanish, French or Creole (12-17 year olds, only)
  • Adolescent does not have access to cellular phone
  • Adolescents active in mental health treatment (e.g., seen a therapist, social worker, or mental health provider in the last week)

Study Design

Enrollment

2200 participants

Anticipated

Allocation

Randomized

Intervention Model

Parallel Assignment

Primary purpose

Treatment

Interventions and Outcome Measures

Arms

experimental: WeCare

WeCare system of care - universal screening, ED-based intervention, text message follow-up.

no intervention: Usual Services

Usual care for youth presenting to the ED will be the control condition.

Interventions

WeCare

WeCare combines two evidence-based strategies -- universal screening using the Computerized Adaptive Screen for Suicidal Youth and an adapted version of the SAFETY-ACUTE, which incorporates PI Lindsey's extensive work with Black youth, their families, and community stakeholders to develop culturally tailored strategies for addressing treatment barriers.

Primary outcome measure

  • Mental Health Outpatient Visits (Electronic Medical Record) [ Time Frame: Baseline, Months 3 and 6 ]
  • Columbia-Suicide Severity Rating Scale [ Time Frame: Baseline, Months 3 and 6 ]

Central Contacts and Locations

Central contacts

Michael A Lindsey, PhD

(212) 998-5959michael.lindsey@nyu.edu

Jacqueline Holloway, PhD

973-941-2376jacqueline.holloway@nyu.edu

Locations

Kings County Hospital

Recruiting

New York, New York, United States, 11203

Contacts

Nasreen Akbar, MD

718-245-2502akbarn@nychhc.org

Nicholas Bove

boven@nychhc.org

Principal Investigator:

Nasreen Akbar, MD

More Information

Sponsor

New York University

Last update posted

Jun 10, 2026

Last verified

Apr, 2026

Keywords

  • suicide
  • ideation
  • Black youth
  • depression

Trial information was received from ClinicalTrials.gov and was last updated on 2026-09-10. This information was provided to ClinicalTrials.gov by New York University on 2026-06-10.