St. Luke's Health System announced Tuesday that the organization is leading a research trial that will inform healthcare and crisis hotlines about suicide prevention.
The Suicide Prevention Among Recipients of Care (SPARC) trial will be the largest suicide prevention study in the state of Idaho. It will focus on residents from both rural and urban areas of Idaho, as well as a large adolescent population.
According to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, suicide is the second leading cause of death for Idahoans aged 10-44 and the state's suicide rate is 46% higher than the national suicide rate. St. Luke's reports that approximately 1,165 patients were screened at an elevated risk for suicide in August.
St. Luke's received a $3.4 million research grant from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) to conduct a three-year suicide prevention research study in 2019. After a delay due to the pandemic, SPARC began offering enrollment to patients who present in an emergency or primary care setting with suicidal ideation in May 2021.
The trial compares two evidence-based follow-up interventions to suicide prevention for adults and adolescents. Providers and staff from 32 St. Luke's clinics and emergency departments sites are partnering with the SPARC team to enroll nearly 1,400 patients. Those who participate will be randomized and will receive one of the two evidence-based follow-up interventions from the Idaho Suicide Prevention Hotline.
"The positive initial response from participants in this study continues to motivate our team and reinforces how critical it is to understand how to effectively help people who are having thoughts of suicide," Dr. Anna Radin, the Principal Investigator for the study, said in a statement. "So many individuals have expressed gratitude for the follow-up from the Hotline. We hear 'this is just what I needed' a lot."
"This trial was intentionally designed to be pragmatic and as 'real world' as possible," Radin said. "We don't want to do research just because it's interesting. We want the results to be actionable, so that both here in Idaho and around the country, health systems and crisis centers can partner together to scale-up the best possible follow-up intervention to support people experiencing suicidal ideation."
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