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Beneficial and Harmful Effects of Reducing Public Suicide Stigma

The safety and scientific validity of this study is the responsibility of the study sponsor and investigators. Listing a study does not mean it has been evaluated by the U.S. Federal Government. Read our disclaimer for details.
 
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT04756219
Recruitment Status : Completed
First Posted : February 16, 2021
Last Update Posted : June 10, 2021
Sponsor:
Information provided by (Responsible Party):
Nathalie Oexle, University of Ulm

Study Description
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Brief Summary:
There is growing evidence that negative attitudes towards persons affected by suicide (i.e. persons who experience suicidality, persons who lost a loved one to suicide), so called public suicide stigma, is harmful for suicide prevention, for example by reducing social support, inhibiting help-seeking for suicidality and increasing distress as well as suicidality among stigmatized persons. Reducing public suicide stigma could therefore be an important factor of successful suicide prevention. However, reducing public suicide stigma could also be harmful, for example by increasing attitudes that suicidal behaviour is a normal and acceptable solution for crisis situations, which could decrease help-seeking for suicidality and encourage suicidal behaviour. This project will (1) develop four interventions (contact-based vs. education based, video vs. text) hypothesized to reduce public suicide stigma, (2) determine the efficacy of the four interventions with regard to reducing public suicide stigma, (3) identify additional harmful (e.g. normalization of suicidal behaviour) and beneficial intervention effects (e.g. improved attitudes to seek help) and (4) investigate pathways explaining intervention effects.

Condition or disease Intervention/treatment Phase
Public Suicide Stigma Other: Contact Video Other: Contact Text Other: Education Video Other: Education Text Not Applicable

Study Design
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Study Type : Interventional  (Clinical Trial)
Actual Enrollment : 1800 participants
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: Single (Participant)
Primary Purpose: Other
Official Title: Beneficial and Harmful Effects of Reducing Public Suicide Stigma
Actual Study Start Date : February 19, 2021
Actual Primary Completion Date : March 19, 2021
Actual Study Completion Date : March 19, 2021

Resource links provided by the National Library of Medicine

MedlinePlus related topics: Suicide

Arms and Interventions
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Arm Intervention/treatment
Experimental: Contact Video
Participants randomized to this group will watch a video of a person talking about his recovery after attempting suicide.
 Other: Contact Video
No additional information necessary.
Experimental: Contact Text
Participants randomized to this group will read a personal story of a person who survived a suicide attempt.
 Other: Contact Text
No additional information necessary.
Experimental: Education Video
Participants randomized to this group will watch a video of a psychiatrist presenting facts about suicide and suicide prevention.
 Other: Education Video
No additional information necessary.
Experimental: Education Text
Participants randomized to this group will read a text containing facts about suicide and suicide prevention.
 Other: Education Text
No additional information necessary.
Placebo Comparator: Control Contact
Participants randomized to this group will read a personal story of a person who survived a heart attack.
 Other: Contact Video
No additional information necessary.

Other: Contact Text
No additional information necessary.
Placebo Comparator: Control Education
Participants randomized to this group will read a text containing facts about heart-attacks and their prevention.
 Other: Education Video
No additional information necessary.

Other: Education Text
No additional information necessary.


Outcome Measures
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Primary Outcome Measures :
  1. Stigma subscale of the Stigma of Suicide Scale short form (SOSS-SF) [ Time Frame: Immediately after the intervention (t1) ]
    Batterham al. (2013) The Stigma of Suicide Scale. Psychometric properties and correlates of the stigma of suicide. Crisis 34(1):13-21


Secondary Outcome Measures :
  1. Stigma subscale of the Stigma of Suicide Scale short form (SOSS-SF) [ Time Frame: Two weeks after the intervention (t2) ]
    Batterham al. (2013) The Stigma of Suicide Scale. Psychometric properties and correlates of the stigma of suicide. Crisis 34(1):13-21

  2. Literacy of Suicide Scale (LOSS) [ Time Frame: Immediately after the intervention (t1); Two weeks after the intervention (t2) ]
    Batterham et al. (2013) Correlates of suicide stigma and suicide literacy in the community. Suicide Life Threat Behav 43(4):406-417

  3. Cognitions Concerning Suicide Scale (CCSS) [ Time Frame: Immediately after the intervention (t1); Two weeks after the intervention (t2) ]
    Cwik et al. (2017) Measuring attitudes towards suicide: Preliminary evaluation of an attitude towards suicide scale. Compr Psychiatry 72:56-65

  4. General help-seeking questionnaire suicidal ideation subscale (GHSQ-SI) [ Time Frame: Immediately after the intervention (t1); Two weeks after the intervention (t2) ]
    Wilson et al. (2005) Measuring help-seeking intentions: Properties of the General Help-Seeking Questionnaire. Canadian Journal of Counselling 39(1):15-28

  5. Current suicidality [ Time Frame: Immediately after the intervention (t1); Two weeks after the intervention (t2) ]
    One item adapted from the PHQ-9 (Kroenke et al. 2001; "Do you currently experience thoughts that you would be better off dead or of hurting yourself?" response scale from 1 (not at all) to 7 (very much)

  6. Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS), negative affect subscale [ Time Frame: Immediately after the intervention (t1); Two weeks after the intervention (t2) ]
    Breyer & Bluemke (2016) Deutsche Version der Positive and Negative Affect Schedule PANAS (GESIS Panel). ZIS - GESIS Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences

  7. Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-2) [ Time Frame: Two weeks after the intervention (t2) ]
    Löwe et al. (2005) Detecting and monitoring depression with a two-item questionnaire (PHQ-2). Journal of Psychosomatic Research 58(2):163-171


Eligibility Criteria
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Information from the National Library of Medicine

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Ages Eligible for Study:   18 Years and older   (Adult, Older Adult)
Sexes Eligible for Study:   All
Accepts Healthy Volunteers:   Yes
Criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

Participants need to be at least 18 years old, speak German and provide online informed consent.

Exclusion Criteria:

Persons who self-report to have experienced suicidality within three months before baseline will be excluded.

Contacts and Locations
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Information from the National Library of Medicine

To learn more about this study, you or your doctor may contact the study research staff using the contact information provided by the sponsor.

Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier (NCT number): NCT04756219


Locations
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Germany
Ulm University
Ulm, Germany, 89075
Sponsors and Collaborators
University of Ulm
More Information
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Responsible Party: Nathalie Oexle, Jun.-Prof. Dr. Nathalie Oexle, University of Ulm
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT04756219    
Other Study ID Numbers: 352/20
First Posted: February 16, 2021    Key Record Dates
Last Update Posted: June 10, 2021
Last Verified: June 2021
Individual Participant Data (IPD) Sharing Statement:
Plan to Share IPD: Undecided
Plan Description: Anonymized data available upon personal request.

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Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated Drug Product: No
Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated Device Product: No
Keywords provided by Nathalie Oexle, University of Ulm:
Suicide
Stigma
General public
Suicide prevention
Additional relevant MeSH terms:
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Suicide
Self-Injurious Behavior
Behavioral Symptoms