Efficacy of the I-CARE Digital Health Intervention

Recruiting now · Not applicable

Conditions studied: Mental Health Disorder, Suicide Attempt, Suicidal Ideation, Emergency Psychiatric

In brief

When presenting to an ED with suicide, self-harm or other mental health crises, youth may also experience "boarding", which is defined by the Joint Commission as "the practice of holding patients in the ED or another temporary location after the decision to admit or transfer has been made." A recent national survey of 88 US acute care hospitals conducted by our research team found that 98.9% of hospitals were boarding youth awaiting psychiatric hospitalization, for an average of 2-3 days. However, as illustrated in a systemic review, little research has focused on developing interventions to support youth during this highly vulnerable time. 3 I-CARE is a modular, blended digital health intervention facilitated by individuals who are not mental health clinical staff to teach youth evidence-based psychosocial skills during the boarding period. This study will evaluate I-CARE's efficacy using a patient-level randomized clinical trial (RCT), randomizing youth to receive standard safety supervision or I-CARE in addition to standard safety supervision. If found to the efficacious, I-CARE could be scaled-up in new settings with limited resources and has the potential to significantly improve the quality of care received by youth experiencing boarding.

Key facts

Study ID

NCT07150832

Run by

Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center

People needed

173

Starts

2025-10-06

Expected to finish

2027-06-30

Last updated by the study team

2025-10-31

Who can join

Age: 12 and older, up to 17. Sex: any. Healthy volunteers: not accepted.

You may qualify if…

• Adolescents of any sex and gender, aged 12-17 years at ED visit or hospital encounter
• Presenting with suicide attempt or ideation, or self-harm
• Medically stable
• English-speaking
• Awaiting transfer for inpatient psychiatric care or disposition.

You may not qualify if…

• Cognitive or developmental delays precluding participation (intellectual functioning <12 years of age)
• Behavioral limitations that preclude program participation
• Active psychosis
• Legal parent/caregiver unable to speak English or unavailable to provide consent (e.g. Wards of the State)

Where it is running

• Yale — New Haven, Connecticut, United States (enrolling)
• Weill Cornell Medicine — New York, New York, United States (enrolling)
• Dartmouth College — Hanover, New Hampshire, United States
• Dartmouth Health — Lebanon, New Hampshire, United States

Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov

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