Recruiting

Observational Study

Sponsor:

Jeff Bridge

Code:

NCT06558409

Conditions

Suicide Prevention

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18 - 70+

Healthy Volunteers: Not accepted

Interventions

" Safer Still " Interactive Intervention

Enhanced Usual Care (EUC):

Study Details

Brief summary:

The long-term goal is to decrease suicide and suicidal behaviors in at-risk youth through preventative interventions. Investigators propose to develop an interactive intervention ("Safer Still") to help promote safe storage of firearms during the critical period immediately following high-risk care transitions. The objective of this study is to develop and test the Safer Still intervention as an efficient adjunct to traditional care for adolescents aged 12-17 years who are discharged from psychiatric hospitals and living in households where firearms are stored unsafely.

Conditions

Suicide Prevention

Study ID

NCT06558409

Start date

Nov 7, 2024

Status verified date

Aug, 2025

Completion date

Jul 31, 2027

Anticipated

Primary completion date

Jul 31, 2027

Anticipated

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18 - 70+

Healthy Volunteers: Not accepted

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Parent or legal guardian of an adolescent aged 12 to 17 years at time of consent
  • Have a child who is receiving psychiatric inpatient, crisis, or emergency treatment at Nationwide Children's Hospital
  • Indicate that at least one firearm is located in or around the residence of the adolescent and is stored unlocked, loaded, or both unlocked and loaded.
  • Only one parent per household is permitted to participate to avoid contamination across the two study conditions.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Inability to speak/read English
  • Lack access to a digital device (smartphone, iPad, tablet computer, desktop, laptop PC).

Study Design

Enrollment

80 participants

Anticipated

Allocation

Randomized

Intervention Model

Parallel Assignment

Primary purpose

Prevention

Interventions and Outcome Measures

Arms

experimental: Safer Still Intervention

Investigators will present parents with suggested alternatives for restricting lethal means, particularly firearms and medications with high toxicity in overdose. Investigators will present multiple options for restricting access as opposed to just one alternative that may be deemed unreasonable by a family. Investigators will generate these options based upon the expertise of the study's lethal means consultant. Second, the mobile technology platform will provide weekly prompts about means restriction. Parents who have not restricted access to lethal means will be asked to document their reasons for inaction-a justification for not following safe storage practices. Third, the mobile technology platform will provide descriptive normative data regarding means restriction to those who have not secured these items

placebo comparator: Enhanced Usual Care (EUC)

Families randomly assigned to the control condition will receive a psychological placebo that will feature an education only website developed by NCH's web design team. This website will cover warning signs for suicide, the leading methods of suicide - so that both conditions have content that features information about firearms - and locating professional help. Like the intervention Safer Still web-based program, the control website will be branded with a Nationwide Children's Hospital affiliation, as opposed to an outside organization that will be less familiar to the central Ohio sample. The control website will NOT feature these three behavioral economic strategies--namely (a) multiple suggested alternatives for means restriction, (b) requests to justify inaction regarding means restriction, and (c) normative feedback about means restriction.

Interventions

" Safer Still " Interactive Intervention

An interactive intervention will be developed to help promote safe storage of firearms during the critical period immediately following high-risk care transitions.

Enhanced Usual Care (EUC):

Families randomly assigned to the control condition will receive a psychological placebo that will feature an education only website developed by NCH's web design team. This website will cover warning signs for suicide, the leading methods of suicide - so that both conditions have content that features information about firearms - and locating professional help. The control website will NOT feature these three behavioral economic strategies--namely (a) multiple suggested alternatives for means restriction, (b) requests to justify inaction regarding means restriction, and (c) normative feedback about means restriction.

Primary outcome measure

  • Household Lethal Means Survey (HLMS) [ Time Frame: Baseline, One month and Three months ]

Central Contacts and Locations

Central contacts

Nikhitha Kakarala, MPH

614-722-3511nikhitha.kakarala@nationwidechildrens.org

Kendra Heck, MPH

614-355-3433kendra.heck@nationwidechildrens.org

Locations

Nationwide Children's Hospital Behavioral Health Pavillion

Recruiting

Columbus, Ohio, United States, 43215

Contacts

Director, Center for Suicide Prevention and Research, PhD- epidemiology

(614) 938-0233Jeff.Bridge@NationwideChildrens.org

More Information

Sponsor

Jeff Bridge

Last update posted

Aug 8, 2025

Last verified

Aug, 2025

Keywords

  • Firearms safety
  • Lethal means prevention
  • Safe storage of firearms and medication
  • Mobile application
  • Interactive intervention
  • Firearm storage behavior
  • Behavioral economics
  • Behavioral nudges
  • Lethal means restriction
  • Medication storage practices

Trial information was received from ClinicalTrials.gov and was last updated on 2026-09-10. This information was provided to ClinicalTrials.gov by Jeff Bridge on 2025-08-08.