TY - JOUR
T1 - Digital bibliotherapy as a scalable intervention for suicidal thoughts
T2 - A randomized controlled trial
AU - Franz, Peter J.
AU - Mou, David
AU - Kessler, Daniel T.
AU - Stubbing, Jessica
AU - Jaroszewski, Adam C.
AU - Ray, Sara
AU - Cao-Silveira, Vy Bao
AU - Bachman, Savannah
AU - Schuster, Sarah
AU - Graupensperger, Daniel
AU - Alpert, Jonathan E.
AU - Porath, Mike
AU - Nock, Matthew K.
PY - 2022/8/1
Y1 - 2022/8/1
N2 - OBJECTIVE: Suicide is a major public health concern in the United States, but few effective and scalable interventions exist to help those with suicidal thoughts. We hypothesized that reading first-person narratives about working through suicidal thoughts would reduce the desire to die among adults and that this effect would be mediated by increased perceived shared experience and optimism. METHOD: Using a randomized waitlist-controlled trial, we tested the effect of digital narrative-based bibliotherapy among 528 adults visiting a social media platform dedicated to providing mental health support. Participants were randomized to either a treatment condition (n = 266), in which they read one suicide narrative per day for 14 days or to a waitlist control condition (n = 262). The primary outcome was a measure of desire to die assessed daily for the 14-day trial period and at 2-week follow-up. RESULTS: Participants in the treatment condition reported lower desire to die than participants in the control condition during the 14-day trial period (β = -0.26, p = .001) and at 2-week follow-up (t = -2.82, p = .005). Increased perceived shared experience (indirect effect b = -0.55, p < .001) and optimism (indirect effect b = -0.85, p < .001) mediated the effect of treatment on desire to die. CONCLUSIONS: Digital narrative-based bibliotherapy may be an effective intervention for those at risk for suicide, and may work in part by increasing feelings of perceived shared experience and optimism. Future research is needed to test the generalizability of these results to other platforms, groups, and conditions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).
AB - OBJECTIVE: Suicide is a major public health concern in the United States, but few effective and scalable interventions exist to help those with suicidal thoughts. We hypothesized that reading first-person narratives about working through suicidal thoughts would reduce the desire to die among adults and that this effect would be mediated by increased perceived shared experience and optimism. METHOD: Using a randomized waitlist-controlled trial, we tested the effect of digital narrative-based bibliotherapy among 528 adults visiting a social media platform dedicated to providing mental health support. Participants were randomized to either a treatment condition (n = 266), in which they read one suicide narrative per day for 14 days or to a waitlist control condition (n = 262). The primary outcome was a measure of desire to die assessed daily for the 14-day trial period and at 2-week follow-up. RESULTS: Participants in the treatment condition reported lower desire to die than participants in the control condition during the 14-day trial period (β = -0.26, p = .001) and at 2-week follow-up (t = -2.82, p = .005). Increased perceived shared experience (indirect effect b = -0.55, p < .001) and optimism (indirect effect b = -0.85, p < .001) mediated the effect of treatment on desire to die. CONCLUSIONS: Digital narrative-based bibliotherapy may be an effective intervention for those at risk for suicide, and may work in part by increasing feelings of perceived shared experience and optimism. Future research is needed to test the generalizability of these results to other platforms, groups, and conditions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).
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U2 - 10.1037/ccp0000752
DO - 10.1037/ccp0000752
M3 - Article
C2 - 36066864
AN - SCOPUS:85137745656
SN - 0022-006X
VL - 90
SP - 626
EP - 637
JO - Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology
JF - Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology
IS - 8
ER -