Citation

Cebrià AI, Pérez-Bonaventura I, Cuijpers P, Kerkhof A, Parra I, Escayola A, García-Parés G, Oliva JC, Puntí J, López D, Vallès V, Pàmias M, Hegerl U, Pérez-Solà V, Palao DJ. Crisis 2015; 36(5): 345-352.

Affiliation

Department of Psychiatry and Forensic Medicine, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2015, International Association for Suicide Prevention, Publisher Hogrefe Publishing)

DOI

10.1027/0227-5910/a000331

PMID

26502785

Abstract

AIM: In a previous controlled study, the authors reported on the significant beneficial effects of a telephone intervention program for prevention of suicide attempts by patients for up to 1 year. This study reports the 5-year follow-up data. Outcomes were number of recurrences and time to recurrence.

METHOD: The intervention was carried out on patients discharged from the emergency room (ER) following attempted suicide (Sabadell). It consisted of a systematic, 1-year telephone follow-up program: after 1 week, and thereafter at 1-, 3-, 6-, 9-, and 12-month intervals to assess the risk of suicide and encourage adherence to treatment. The population in the control group (Terrassa) received treatment as usual after discharge, without additional telephone contact.

RESULTS: The effect of reattempt prevention observed in the first year was not maintained over the long term.

CONCLUSION: A telephone management program for patients discharged from an ER after attempted suicide could be considered a useful strategy in delaying further suicide attempts and reducing the rate of reattempts in the first year. However, results showed that the beneficial effects were not maintained at the 5-year follow-up.

Language: en