Citation

Donaldson D, Spirito A, Arrigan M, Weiner Aspel J. Arch. Suicide Res. 1997; 3(4): 271-282.

Affiliation

Child and Family Psychiatry, Rhode Island Hospital, Providence, RI 02903, United States

Copyright

(Copyright © 1997, International Academy of Suicide Research, Publisher Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Adolescent suicide attempters are often noncompliant with outpatient psychotherapy and drop out of treatment much more quickly than non-suicidal adolescents. In this study, 23 adolescents received medical treatment and a standard psychiatric evaluation in an Emergency Department following a suicide attempt. In addition, all subjects and their parents received a psychotherapy compliance enhancement intervention which included a verbal agreement between the adolescent and parent/guardian to attend at least four psychotherapy sessions. After discharge from the hospital, each subject received three phone interviews over an 8 week period using a problem solving approach around two key areas: suicidal ideation and psycotherapy compliance. Compared to a three month follow-up of 78 subjects (which did not include an experimental intervention), conducted at the same hospital, the experimental intervention resulted in fewer outpatient psychotherapy 'no shows' (9% vs. 18%) and a trend toward greater number of sessions attended (5.5 vs. 3.9). There were no re-attempts in the experimental group as compared to 9% in the comparison group. Results are promising and a randomized intervention trial appears indicated.