This pilot study includes only one arm of subjects, all of whom will receive Acute Youth Connect, in addition to treatment as usual. The Acute Youth Connect treatment protocol lasts for 12 weeks following discharge, for a total intervention period of roughly 13 weeks including pre-discharge consent and nomination of supports. Patients will be assessed at baseline, mid-intervention, immediately post-intervention, and 12 weeks following the scheduled intervention completion.~Feedback from the first 5-10 patients will be used to modify the treatment protocol to improve patient acceptability. All remaining patients will receive this refined treatment protocol.~At the time of registration, the Acute Youth Connect treatment protocol is as follows. Adolescents in acute psychiatric care (partial hospitalization) will be screened for eligibility approximately one week before discharge. After patient assent and parental consent are received, the patient and a parent/caregiver will together nominate 3-4 trusted adults in the patient's life to serve as a post-discharge support team. The nominees will then be contacted, consented, and receive a 45-90 minute training on how to provide social support to the patient. Each adult support will also receive weekly (3-15 minute) check in calls from study staff to monitor progress and resolve any concerns related to the patient's progress. In addition, each patient will attend 3 interactive sessions with a study interventionist, and will be encouraged to bring an adult from their support team to participate as well. These sessions will be evenly spaced throughout the post-discharge intervention period. Adolescents will receive weekly reflection-prompting text messages to practice skills taught in the interactive sessions.
The purpose of this pilot study is to refine and then assess the feasibility, acceptability, and target engagement of Acute Youth Connect - a network health intervention for adolescents leaving acute psychiatric care with suicide-related concerns.