TY  - JOUR
AU  - Rowe, Sarah L
AU  - Patel, Krisna
AU  - French, Rebecca S
AU  - Henderson, Claire
AU  - Ougrin, Dennis
AU  - Slade, Mike
AU  - Moran, Paul
PY  - 2018
DA  - 2018/01/30
TI  - Web-Based Decision Aid to Assist Help-Seeking Choices for Young People Who Self-Harm: Outcomes From a Randomized Controlled Feasibility Trial
JO  - JMIR Ment Health
SP  - e10
VL  - 5
IS  - 1
KW  - adolescent
KW  - self-harm
KW  - decision aid
KW  - intervention
KW  - schools
KW  - feasibility
KW  - randomized controlled trials
KW  - ethics
AB  - Background: Adolescents who self-harm are often unsure how or where to get help. We developed a Web-based personalized decision aid (DA) designed to support young people in decision making about seeking help for their self-harm. Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of the DA intervention and the randomized controlled trial (RCT) in a school setting. Methods: We conducted a two-group, single blind, randomized controlled feasibility trial in a school setting. Participants aged 12 to 18 years who reported self-harm in the past 12 months were randomized to either a Web-based DA or to general information about mood and feelings. Feasibility of recruitment, randomization, and follow-up rates were assessed, as was acceptability of the intervention and study procedures. Descriptive data were collected on outcome measures examining decision making and help-seeking behavior. Qualitative interviews were conducted with young people, parents or carers, and staff and subjected to thematic analysis to explore their views of the DA and study processes. Results: Parental consent was a significant barrier to young people participating in the trial, with only 17.87% (208/1164) of parents or guardians who were contacted for consent responding to study invitations. Where parental consent was obtained, we were able to recruit 81.7% (170/208) of young people into the study. Of those young people screened, 13.5% (23/170) had self-harmed in the past year. Ten participants were randomized to receiving the DA, and 13 were randomized to the control group. Four-week follow-up assessments were completed with all participants. The DA had good acceptability, but qualitative interviews suggested that a DA that addressed broader mental health problems such as depression, anxiety, and self-harm may be more beneficial. Conclusions: A broad-based mental health DA addressing a wide range of psychosocial problems may be useful for young people. The requirement for parental consent is a key barrier to intervention research on self-harm in the school setting. Adaptations to the research design and the intervention are needed before generalizable research about DAs can be successfully conducted in a school setting. Trial Registration: International Standard Randomized Controlled Trial registry: ISRCTN11230559; http://www.isrctn.com/ISRCTN11230559 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/6wqErsYWG) 
SN  - 2368-7959
UR  - http://mental.jmir.org/2018/1/e10/
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2196/mental.8098
UR  - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29382626
DO  - 10.2196/mental.8098
ID  - info:doi/10.2196/mental.8098
ER  -