Identifying Modifiable Risk Factors Associated with Suicidality in Adolescents Following Acute Psychiatric Hospitalization
2024 Award: $78,000
Suicide is now the second-leading cause of death among adolescents, and some of the most vulnerable adolescents are those requiring acute mental health care. The rate of suicide in the 3 months following a psychiatric hospitalization is up to 100 times that of the general population, but despite this heightened risk, little is known about the ways in which modifiable factors of hospitalization impact suicidal thoughts and behaviors following discharge from the hospital. The present study will leverage the creation of UNC Youth Behavioral Health, a psychiatric facility for adolescents, to examine the ways in which underlying risk factors, course of hospitalization, and patient perceptions of hospitalization impact clinical outcomes in the three months following discharge among individuals who initially presented with suicidal thoughts and behaviors.
Need/Problem: Adolescents who have recently been discharged from a psychiatric facility are at heightened risk of developing suicidal thoughts and behaviors (STBs), and there is an urgent need for research that improves our understanding of STBs among adolescents recently discharged from a psychiatric facility.
Grant Summary: In order to advance our understanding of the recurrence of STBs among adolescents following discharge from an acute psychiatric hospitalization, we will recruit adolescents admitted to a novel psychiatric facility, UNC Youth Behavioral Health (UNC YBH) and their respective caregivers. Comprehensive data will be gathered through chart reviews, surveys, and semi-structured interviews with adolescents and caregivers. The data will provide insights on the risk factors, course of hospitalization, and clinical outcomes among adolescents with STBs requiring acute psychiatric services.
Goals and Projected Outcomes: The study will generate data on modifiable aspects of hospitalization and their impact on the clinical outcomes of adolescents with STBs in the three months following discharge from UNC YBH. The data will inform future proposals for larger-scale NIH funding that will help us understand who is most at risk of developing STBs, characteristics and courses of treatment that predict better outcomes, and ultimately, the development of interventions that improve outcomes for adolescents with STBs requiring acute mental health care.
Gabrielle Hodgins, MD
Grant Details: Suicide is now the second-leading cause of death among adolescents in the U.S., and in North Carolina, one in five adolescents report having suicidal thoughts. To address the youth mental health crisis, the state of North Carolina and UNC Health partnered to open UNC YBH, an acute psychiatric facility for adolescents. Individuals undergoing acute psychiatric hospitalization are at heightened risk of suicide; the risk of suicide in the 3 months after discharge is up to 100 times that of the general population. Our study will leverage the creation of UNC YBH to conduct comprehensive research on STBs among adolescents requiring acute psychiatric care. Data will be collected at the time of admission to UNC YBH, time of discharge, and 3 months after leaving the hospital. Participants will complete surveys, undergo chart reviews, and complete semi-structured interviews about their experience of hospitalization. The results from the study will describe the clinical presentation, demographics, course of treatment, and discharge plans for adolescents admitted to UNC YBH with STBs. In addition, the data will allow us to describe characteristics of the hospitalization that are associated with improved outcomes and will allow us to examine the ways in which the patient and caregiver perceptions of hospitalization impact the recurrence of STBs. Altogether, the study will shed light on solution-oriented, modifiable mechanisms of hospitalization that impact STBs post-discharge.
