TY  - JOUR
AU  - Law, Yik Wa
AU  - Lok, Rita Hui Ting
AU  - Chiang, Byron
AU  - Lai, Carmen Chui Shan
AU  - Tsui, Sik Hon Matthew
AU  - Chung, Pui Yin Joseph
AU  - Leung, Siu Chung
PY  - 2023
DA  - 2023/8/16
TI  - Effects of Community-Based Caring Contact in Reducing Thwarted Belongingness Among Postdischarge Young Adults With Self-Harm: Randomized Controlled Trial
JO  - JMIR Form Res
SP  - e43526
VL  - 7
KW  - self-harm
KW  - suicidal ideation
KW  - volunteers
KW  - mobile app
KW  - thwarted belongingness
KW  - suicide
KW  - youth
KW  - community
KW  - support
KW  - treatment
KW  - effectiveness
KW  - risk
KW  - patient
KW  - intervention
KW  - model
KW  - care
KW  - hospital
AB  - Background: For patients with self-harm behaviors, the urge to hurt themselves persists after hospital discharge, leading to costly readmissions and even death. Hence, postdischarge intervention programs that reduce self-harm behavior among patients should be part of a cogent community mental health care policy. Objective: We aimed to determine whether a combination of a self-help mobile app and volunteer support could complement treatment as usual (TAU) to reduce the risk of suicide among these patients. Methods: We conducted a pragmatic randomized controlled trial on discharged patients aged between 18 and 45 years with self-harm episodes/suicide attempts, all of whom were recruited from 4 hospital emergency departments in Hong Kong. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three groups: (1) mobile app + TAU (“apps”), (2) mobile app + volunteer support + TAU (“volunteers”), or (3) TAU only as the control group (“TAU”). They were asked to submit a mobile app–based questionnaire during 4 measurement time points at monthly intervals. Results: A total of 40 participants were recruited. Blending volunteer care with a preprogrammed mobile app was found to be effective in improving service compliance. Drawing upon the interpersonal-psychological theory of suicide, our findings suggested that a reduction in perceived burdensomeness and thwarted belongingness through community-based caring contact are linked to improvement in hopelessness, albeit a transient one, and suicide risk. Conclusions: A combination of volunteer care with a self-help mobile app as a strategy for strengthening the continuity of care can be cautiously implemented for discharged patients at risk of self-harm during the transition from the hospital to a community setting. Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03081078; https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT03081078 
SN  - 2561-326X
UR  - https://formative.jmir.org/2023/1/e43526
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2196/43526
UR  - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37585260
DO  - 10.2196/43526
ID  - info:doi/10.2196/43526
ER  -