An interventional study of Brief Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in Suicide Risk, Suicide Attempt and Treatment Response, sponsored by Ohio State University. Recruiting at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-09-14.
Sponsored by Ohio State University · Not applicable, Interventional, and Prevention
The purpose of this research study is to improve the effectiveness of a well-established therapy for suicidal thoughts and behaviors called Brief Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (BCBT) for Suicide Prevention.
Funded by The Jordan Elizabeth Harris Foundation, this study uses a Sequential Multiple Assignment Randomized Trial (SMART) design to evaluate how various sequences and doses of BCBT components differentially impact suicide risk. In this two-stage clinical trial, all participants will initially receive 4 sessions of BCBT and complete weekly assessments. They will also complete 4 weeks of ecological momentary assessment (EMA) and digital phenotyping procedures during the first month of treatment.
281 studies on the registry are indexed under Suicide, Attempted; 91 are open to participants now.
This study's planned enrollment of 50 is below the median of 129 across 224 interventional studies indexed under Suicide, Attempted.
Browse Suicide, Attempted studies →Ohio State University is the lead sponsor of 663 studies on the registry; 148 are open to participants now.
Of its 67 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 49 (73%) have results posted.
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Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.
Exclusion Criteria:
Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.
You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.
Informed consent
Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.
You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Participants will complete reasons for living in session 2, physiological regulation in session 3, and sleep in session 4.
Behavioral: Brief Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Sleep in session 2, physiological regulation in session 3, and reasons for living in session 4.
Behavioral: Brief Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Beginning at week 4, participants will be classified as treatment responders if they (1) have not engaged in any preparatory behavior or made any suicide attempts (aborted, interrupted, or actual) and (2) have an SCS-R total score ≤21. Participants who do not meet these criteria will continue BCBT and be randomized a second time to determine if cognitive reappraisal or behavioral activation components are delivered next (sessions 5-9).
Behavioral: Brief Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Beginning at week 4, participants will be classified as treatment responders if they (1) have not engaged in any preparatory behavior or made any suicide attempts (aborted, interrupted, or actual) and (2) have an SCS-R total score ≤21. Participants who do not meet these criteria will continue BCBT and be randomized a second time to determine if cognitive reappraisal or behavioral activation components are delivered next (sessions 5-9).
Behavioral: Brief Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
In this study, BCBT skills will be introduced in various randomly determined sequence. During the first stage, around half of participants will complete reasons for living in session 2, physiological regulation in session 3, and sleep in session 4. The other half of participants will complete these components in the reverse order: sleep in session 2, physiological regulation in session 3, and reasons for living in session 4. Treatment non-responders will continue attending BCBT sessions during Stage 2 following their 4 completed sessions in Stage 1, up to a maximum of 6 additional sessions (i.e., 10 therapy sessions total across both stages). The specific sequence of the BCBT skills used in Stage 2 will be randomly assigned.
Suicide attempts during follow-up
The primary outcome is suicide attempts during follow-up, assessed with the Self-Injurious Thoughts and Behaviors Interview-Revised (SITBI-R). SITBI-R responses will be used to determine the rate of participants making a follow-up suicide attempt (binary) and the rate of follow-up suicide attempts per participant-year across treatment arms.
Time frame: From enrollment to the end of study completion at one year.
Suicidal Cognitions and Suicidal Ideation
Suicidal beliefs will be assessed using the SCS-R.15 SCS-R scores assess future risk for attempting suicide. Severity of suicidal ideation will be assessed using the Scale for Suicide Ideation (SSI),16 a 19-item self-report scale that measures the intensity of suicide-related thoughts, urges, and behaviors.
Time frame: From enrollment to the end of study completion at one year.
Plan to share: No — IPD will not be shared.
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