Digital Narrative Bibliotherapy as a Scalable Intervention for Suicidal Thoughts

Completed · Not applicable

Conditions studied: Suicidal Ideation

In brief

The goal of this study was to determine whether reading about others' experiences with suicide can help reduce suicidal thoughts. To investigate this issue, the investigators recruited users from an internet support community. The investigators randomized participants to two separate groups: a Treatment group and a Control group. Participants in the treatment group read one first-person narrative about suicide each day for 14 days, and answered questions before and after reading the narrative. Participants in the Control group answered questions once per day during the 14-day trial period and did not receive the narrative intervention until after the initial study ended. All participants completed a follow-up questionnaire two weeks after the end of the 14-day trial period.

Key facts

Study ID

NCT05351645

Run by

Harvard University

People needed

864

Starts

2020-11-20

Expected to finish

2021-03-14

Last updated by the study team

2022-04-28

Who can join

Age: 18 and older. Sex: any. Healthy volunteers: accepted.

You may qualify if…

• Age 18 or above
• English as primary language
• Having thought about suicide in the past 12 months

You may not qualify if…

• a high level of suicide intent (as indicated by a 7 or greater on a 10-point scale of intent to act on suicidal thoughts)

Where it is running

• Harvard University — Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States

Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov

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