Suicide Risk ReductionStepped Approach to Reducing Risk of Suicide in Primary Care

Suicide is the second leading cause of death among young people aged 12-17 years in the United States, yet many youth at risk for suicide are not identified or go untreated. Stepped care approaches have been shown to be effective at reducing suicide risk in clinical settings, including primary care. The goal of this hybrid I stepped wedge effectiveness-implementation study is to test the effectiveness of a population-based quality improvement (QI) intervention, entitled STARRS-PC (Stepped Approach to Reducing Risk of Suicide in Primary Care) compared to treatment as usual (TAU), in reducing the risk of suicidal behavior among youth in the pediatric primary care setting. STARRS-PC implements a clinical pathway for youth at elevated risk for suicide in pediatric primary care clinics. Clinical pathways are tools used by health professionals to guide evidence-informed practice. The STARRS-PC pathway consists of three evidence-based suicide clinical care processes: risk detection, assessment and triage, and, if needed, follow-up transitional care.

STARRS-PC is guided by the Practical, Robust Implementation, and Sustainability Model (PRISM), which allows for the study of factors that influence effective implementation of the suicide prevention clinical pathway and is focused on scalability.

The main questions the study aims to answer are:

• Will STARRS-PC be more effective than TAU at reducing the rate of suicide attempt at 12 months post-baseline (primary outcome)?
• Will STARRS-PC be more effective than TAU at reducing suicidal ideation and non-suicidal self-injury, and improving family satisfaction at 12 months post-baseline (secondary outcomes)?
• What are the barriers and facilitators of effective implementation and sustainability of STARRS-PC?