Reducing Help-Seeking Stigma in Young Adults at Elevated Suicide Risk
Public ClinicalTrials.gov record NCT03646903. Field values are reproduced from the official study page; the official ClinicalTrials.gov record remains the source of truth for eligibility, enrollment, and contact information.
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Official title
Reducing Help-Seeking Stigma in Young Adults at Elevated Suicide Risk: A Randomized Controlled Trial
Brief summary
Reproduced verbatim from the official ClinicalTrials.gov record. Not medical advice.
Although there exist interventions that therapeutically impact suicide risk, the connection of individuals at elevated suicide risk to mental health care services remains an ongoing challenge. One persistent barrier to mental health service utilization is help-seeking stigma-that is, having negative beliefs about the implications of seeking help for mental health problems (e.g., "Seeking help means that I am weak"). Thus, to enhance mental health service use among at-risk individuals, efforts are needed to target help-seeking stigma. Preliminary data from our research group indicate that a novel computerized intervention based on cognitive therapy principles can demonstrably reduce help-seeking stigma and increase connection to care among young adults with untreated psychiatric disorders. However, this intervention has not been tested among individuals who are currently experiencing suicidal ideation and are not engaged in mental health treatment. Testing the efficacy of this computerized intervention among young adults at increased risk for suicide is necessary to address the unique challenge of linking at-risk individuals to potentially life-saving treatments. To this end, this study aims to test the efficacy of a brief web-based intervention, cognitive bias modification for help-seeking stigma (CBM-HS), designed to increase mental health help-seeking intentions and behaviors. A total of 78 young adults with current suicidal ideation who are not currently in treatment and who report elevated levels of help-seeking stigma will be randomly assigned to one of three conditions: (1) CBM-HS; (2) CBM-Placebo (i.e., a sham CBM condition analogous to a placebo pill in a pharmaceutical trial); or (3) psychoeducation. Participants will complete assessments at baseline, mid-intervention, post-intervention, and 2-month follow-up to determine the efficacy of CBM-HS in: (a) modifying stigma-related cognitions around mental health help-seeking and service use and (b) increasing treatment initiation and engagement. Moreover, we will test if reductions in stigma-related cognitions mediate the relationship between study condition and subsequent help-seeking behaviors. Findings from the proposed pilot randomized controlled trial have the potential to enhance connection to care among young adults at elevated suicide risk. Importantly, the brief, web-based nature of the intervention enhances its acceptability, feasibility, and scalability. Should CBM-HS demonstrate efficacy in reducing help-seeking stigma and enhancing connection to care among at-risk individuals, it has the potential to serve as a useful tool in suicide prevention efforts.
Study identification
- NCT ID
- NCT03646903
- Recruitment status
- Completed
- Study type
- Interventional
- Phase
- Not applicable
- Enrollment
- 72 participants
Conditions and interventions
Conditions
Eligibility (public fields only)
- Age range
- 18 Years and older
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Healthy volunteers not accepted
This page does not interpret eligibility. Detailed inclusion and exclusion criteria are on the official ClinicalTrials.gov record.
Study timeline
- Start date
- Sep 23, 2018
- Primary completion
- May 31, 2020
- Completion
- Feb 28, 2021
- Last update posted
- Aug 22, 2021
2018 – 2021
United States locations
- U.S. sites
- 1
- U.S. states
- 1
- U.S. cities
- 1
| Facility | City | State | ZIP | Site status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Florida State University | Tallahassee | Florida | 32306 | — |
Site contact phone numbers, emails, and investigator names are intentionally not displayed here. Open the official ClinicalTrials.gov record for site contact information.
About this trial record page
- What this page shows
- Public field values for ClinicalTrials.gov record NCT03646903, including study identification, conditions, interventions, eligibility (age, sex, healthy volunteer), timeline, and U.S. site list.
- What this page does not do
- No medical advice, eligibility judgments, treatment recommendations, study quality scoring, or AI-generated medical summaries. No site contact phone numbers, emails, or investigator names.
- Where the data comes from
- Sourced from the official ClinicalTrials.gov public API. The official record is the source of truth.
- Last refresh
- Last update posted Aug 22, 2021 · Synced Sep 5, 2026
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Open the official record
The complete protocol, eligibility criteria, and contact information for NCT03646903 live on ClinicalTrials.gov.