NCT05748730 · University of Pittsburgh
Clinical Trial for Integrated Care to Help At Risk Teen (iCHART) Intervention
What this study is about
This protocol will test the effectiveness of an intervention, iCHART (integrated Care to Help At-Risk Teens) and facilitate recruitment for other studies in the larger ETUDES Center grant, which are focused on treatment development for target risk factors for suicidal behavior, specifically, sleep, anhedonia, and stress related to cybervictimization.
View original scientific description
This protocol will test the effectiveness of an intervention, iCHART (integrated Care to Help At-Risk Teens) and facilitate recruitment for other studies in the larger ETUDES Center grant, which are focused on treatment development for target risk factors for suicidal behavior, specifically, sleep, anhedonia, and stress related to cybervictimization. This study will recruit 900 adolescents which will be enrolled in a randomized controlled trial to test iCHART and will be randomized to iCHART or treatment as usual (TAU). Based on previous work, the investigators hypothesize that iCHART, compared to TAU, will decrease suicidal-related events by 50%, and the effects will be mediated by increases in referrals, treatment engagement, and safety planning. The investigators will use implementation science methods to assess contextual factors (i.e., barriers and facilitators) and implementation outcomes specifically, acceptability, feasibility, appropriateness, and cost for our predictive algorithm and iCHART to inform future implementation efforts and promote health equity.
Interventions
BEHAVIORAL
iCHART
The Safety Planning App will guide primary care providers or mental health clinicians in the use of an emotion regulation and safety planning app (BRITE) to be loaded on the phone of depressed and suicidal adolescents in order to improve depression and reduce the likelihood of a suicide attempt. The Mental Health Screener is a decision support tool to guide the primary care provider to make a referral that reflects patient clinical needs and patient and parental treatment preferences and perceived barriers to treatment. The Text Messages is a personalized text messaging intervention for patients and parents that targets engagement with the safety plan to increase the likelihood that a depressed or suicidal patient will maintain or initiate recommended services. Participants will receive usual care at their pediatric primary care practice following screening including information, psychoeducation, and referral to a mental health treatment provider.
BEHAVIORAL
Treatment As Usual
Participants in this group will receive usual care from their primary care provider or mental health care provider which may include development of a paper safety plan.
Primary outcome measures
Depression Severity
Time frame: Baseline
Total scores from the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9-M) will be used to assess depression severity. Total Score Depression Severity: 0-4 No or Minimal depression; 5-9 Mild depression; 10-14 Moderate depression; 15-19 Moderately severe depression; 20-27 Severe depression.
Depression Severity
Time frame: 1 Month Follow Up
Total scores from the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9-M) will be used to assess depression severity. Total Score Depression Severity: 0-4 No or Minimal depression; 5-9 Mild depression; 10-14 Moderate depression; 15-19 Moderately severe depression; 20-27 Severe depression.
Depression Severity
Time frame: 3 Month Follow Up
Total scores from the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9-M) will be used to assess depression severity. Total Score Depression Severity: 0-4 No or Minimal depression; 5-9 Mild depression; 10-14 Moderate depression; 15-19 Moderately severe depression; 20-27 Severe depression.
Depression Severity
Time frame: 6 Month Follow Up
Total scores from the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9-M) will be used to assess depression severity. Total Score Depression Severity: 0-4 No or Minimal depression; 5-9 Mild depression; 10-14 Moderate depression; 15-19 Moderately severe depression; 20-27 Severe depression.
Depression Severity
Time frame: 12 Month Follow Up
Total scores from the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9-M) will be used to assess depression severity. Total Score Depression Severity: 0-4 No or Minimal depression; 5-9 Mild depression; 10-14 Moderate depression; 15-19 Moderately severe depression; 20-27 Severe depression.
Suicidal Ideation and Behavior
Time frame: Baseline
Suicidal attempt and ideation will be measured through the Columbia Suicide Severity Rating Scale (C-SSRS). The following outcomes are C-SSRS categories: Wish to be Dead; Non-specific Active Suicidal Thoughts; Active Suicidal Ideation with Any Methods (Not Plan) without Intent to Act; Active Suicidal Ideation with Some Intent to Act, without Specific Plan; Active Suicidal Ideation with Specific Plan and Intent; Preparatory Acts or Behavior; Aborted Attempt; Interrupted Attempt; Actual Attempt (non-fatal); Completed Suicide. Self-injurious behavior without suicidal intent is also a C-SSRS outcome and has a binary response (yes/no). Suicidal Ideation Score is a numerical score derived from the C-SSRS categories. The maximum suicidal ideation category (1-5 on the CSSRS) present at the assessment. Assign a score of 0 if no ideation is present.
Suicidal Ideation and Behavior
Time frame: 1 month follow up
Suicidal attempt and ideation will be measured through the Columbia Suicide Severity Rating Scale (C-SSRS). The following outcomes are C-SSRS categories: Wish to be Dead; Non-specific Active Suicidal Thoughts; Active Suicidal Ideation with Any Methods (Not Plan) without Intent to Act; Active Suicidal Ideation with Some Intent to Act, without Specific Plan; Active Suicidal Ideation with Specific Plan and Intent; Preparatory Acts or Behavior; Aborted Attempt; Interrupted Attempt; Actual Attempt (non-fatal); Completed Suicide. Self-injurious behavior without suicidal intent is also a C-SSRS outcome and has a binary response (yes/no). Suicidal Ideation Score is a numerical score derived from the C-SSRS categories. The maximum suicidal ideation category (1-5 on the CSSRS) present at the assessment. Assign a score of 0 if no ideation is present.
Suicidal Ideation and Behavior
Time frame: 3 month follow up
Suicidal attempt and ideation will be measured through the Columbia Suicide Severity Rating Scale (C-SSRS). The following outcomes are C-SSRS categories: Wish to be Dead; Non-specific Active Suicidal Thoughts; Active Suicidal Ideation with Any Methods (Not Plan) without Intent to Act; Active Suicidal Ideation with Some Intent to Act, without Specific Plan; Active Suicidal Ideation with Specific Plan and Intent; Preparatory Acts or Behavior; Aborted Attempt; Interrupted Attempt; Actual Attempt (non-fatal); Completed Suicide. Self-injurious behavior without suicidal intent is also a C-SSRS outcome and has a binary response (yes/no). Suicidal Ideation Score is a numerical score derived from the C-SSRS categories. The maximum suicidal ideation category (1-5 on the CSSRS) present at the assessment. Assign a score of 0 if no ideation is present.
Suicidal Ideation and Behavior
Time frame: 6 month follow up
Suicidal attempt and ideation will be measured through the Columbia Suicide Severity Rating Scale (C-SSRS). The following outcomes are C-SSRS categories: Wish to be Dead; Non-specific Active Suicidal Thoughts; Active Suicidal Ideation with Any Methods (Not Plan) without Intent to Act; Active Suicidal Ideation with Some Intent to Act, without Specific Plan; Active Suicidal Ideation with Specific Plan and Intent; Preparatory Acts or Behavior; Aborted Attempt; Interrupted Attempt; Actual Attempt (non-fatal); Completed Suicide. Self-injurious behavior without suicidal intent is also a C-SSRS outcome and has a binary response (yes/no). Suicidal Ideation Score is a numerical score derived from the C-SSRS categories. The maximum suicidal ideation category (1-5 on the CSSRS) present at the assessment. Assign a score of 0 if no ideation is present.
Suicidal Ideation and Behavior
Time frame: 12 month follow up
Suicidal attempt and ideation will be measured through the Columbia Suicide Severity Rating Scale (C-SSRS). The following outcomes are C-SSRS categories: Wish to be Dead; Non-specific Active Suicidal Thoughts; Active Suicidal Ideation with Any Methods (Not Plan) without Intent to Act; Active Suicidal Ideation with Some Intent to Act, without Specific Plan; Active Suicidal Ideation with Specific Plan and Intent; Preparatory Acts or Behavior; Aborted Attempt; Interrupted Attempt; Actual Attempt (non-fatal); Completed Suicide. Self-injurious behavior without suicidal intent is also a C-SSRS outcome and has a binary response (yes/no). Suicidal Ideation Score is a numerical score derived from the C-SSRS categories. The maximum suicidal ideation category (1-5 on the CSSRS) present at the assessment. Assign a score of 0 if no ideation is present.
Who can participate
This study lists these criteria on ClinicalTrials.gov. A study coordinator reviews eligibility during screening — this page does not determine whether you qualify.
Inclusion criteria
- Youth will be age 12-18 and speak English.
- Youth will have current depression or suicidal behavior. Suicidal behavior for iCHART (N=900) is defined as past suicidal thoughts in the past two weeks as indicated by PHQ-9M item #9 ≥ 1, and/or past month suicidal thoughts, and/or prior history of attempt as indicated by items on the PHQ-9M; and 300 who screen positive for depression (PHQ-9M ≥ "11")
- 50% of the 300 youth with PHQ-9M ≥ "11" will also be positive for suicide risk as defined for iCHART.
- CAREGIVERS/PARENTS
- Parents/caregivers of youth in the study must be at least 18 years old and their child must be willing to participate in the study. Caregivers/parents must be able to speak English. Parents are considered biological/adoptive parents or have court documentation that they can provide consent for research as a legal guardian of a youth. Only 1 parent/caregiver will be engaged in research, but in case 1 parent is unavailable, the other may be engaged (meaning it doesn't have to be the same parent participating in assessments/interviews throughout youth study participation).
Exclusion criteria
- current manic or psychotic episode, presence of a life-threatening medical condition requiring immediate treatment, intellectual or developmental disability precluding comprehension of study procedure. The latter will will be assessed by parental report of placement in self-contained Special Education classes, EHR review, and during the consent/assent and/or baseline to determine if the participant is not understanding research procedures.
- Participants without access to a phone and/or tablet to interact with components of the intervention that require a phone will be excluded.
- CAREGIVERS/PARENTS
- There are no specific exclusion criteria for caregivers and providers. However, as mentioned in the inclusion criteria, caregivers will be excluded if they are not the biological parent or court-appointed guardian of the youth being interviewed.
Where
- Gibbsboro, New Jersey
- Johnstown, Pennsylvania
- Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
- Reading, Pennsylvania
- Springfield, Pennsylvania
- West Chester, Pennsylvania
Collaborators
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, University of Oregon, Columbia University, Kaiser Permanente, National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Related conditions & keywords
Frequently asked questions
What is a clinical trial?
A clinical trial is a research study that tests new medical treatments, drugs, devices, or procedures to determine their safety and effectiveness. Trials are carefully designed and monitored to protect participants while advancing medical knowledge.
Is it safe to participate?
Clinical trials follow strict safety guidelines and ethical standards. Trials must be reviewed and approved, and participants are closely monitored by medical professionals throughout the study. You can withdraw at any time if you choose.
Will I be compensated?
Many clinical trials offer compensation for your time, travel expenses, and inconvenience. The specific compensation varies by study and will be discussed during the screening process. All study-related medical care is typically provided at no cost to participants.
Will I receive a placebo instead of treatment?
When effective treatment exists, participants typically receive either the standard treatment plus the study intervention, or the standard treatment plus placebo. You would not be denied effective care. Placebos are primarily used when no proven treatment is available, or in addition to standard care. Your trial consent form will clearly explain what treatments you may receive.
Can I leave a trial if I change my mind?
Absolutely. Participation in clinical trials is completely voluntary. You have the right to withdraw from the study at any time, for any reason, without penalty or loss of benefits to which you are otherwise entitled.
How long does a clinical trial last?
Trial duration varies widely depending on the study design and purpose. Some trials last just a few weeks, while others may continue for months or years. The study coordinator will provide specific timeline information during your screening call.
Data: ClinicalTrials.gov · synced Jun 4, 2026 · Source of record for eligibility and locations