Award

DESCRIPTION provided by applicant Every minutes someone in the United States U S chooses to end his or her life resulting in over suicides in the US each year The economic cost of suicide in the U S was $ billion annually in when adjusted for present day inflation the economic toll rises to $ billion The combined cost of medical and work loss is estimated at $ billion annually In people were treated in EDs for self inflicted injuries Beginning in with the Surgeon Generalandapos s Call to Action to Prevent Suicide millions have been devoted annually both publicly approximately $ million from NIH and privately approximately $ million from American Foundation for Suicide Prevention to prevent suicide Yet despite this significant and sustained effort there is no evidence of a decrease in suicides or suicide attempts in the U S Our overarching goal is to create a tool that could reduce suicide rates increase delivery of efficacious suicide interventions and decrease overall costs associated with suicidal behaviors With this in mind we intend to develop and scientifically validate a relational agent for suicidal patients that delivers Collaborative Assessment and Management of Suicidality CAMS an efficacious and cost effective intervention developed by David Jobes PhD and to create an integrated software system CAMS Relational Agent System CAMS RAS that assists medical personnel by synthesizing the CAMS intervention findings into an easy to interpret report and providing empirically derived clinical decision support integrates into the health care systemandapos s electronic health record EHR enhances the patientandapos s coping capability by including psychoeducational skills training modules for use during and after hospitalization and automates the delivery of caring contacts an efficacious and brief suicide prevention intervention provided after discharge Our initial target will be EDs as they are often the initial point of contact and where personnel must make the decision whether to hospitalize or discharge the suicidal patient We will also conduct testing in other medical and outpatient mental health settings to ensure public health impact and commercial success Phase I project aims include creating an advisory board to guide the development of CAMS RAS iteratively design and develop relational agent andquot Dr Daveandquot modeled after the gestures expressions and mannerisms of CAMS treatment developer David Jobes PhD and conduct feasibility tests to determine whether CAMS RAS is acceptable easy to use and liked by target end users acutely suicidal patients admitted to hospital EDs psychiatric inpatient units and medical floors for treatment of injuries sustained during a suicid attempt hospital medical personnel administrators and other stakeholders including peer advocates and outpatient suicidal patients clinicians and administrators PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE Suicide is the tenth leading cause of death among Americans of all ages Over suicides occurred in the U S in one suicide every minutes In the same year over a million U S adults reported attempting suicide were treated in emergency departments EDs for self inflicted injuries and were hospitalized The cost of suicidal behaviors in the U S was $ billion in The Collaborative Assessment and Management of Suicidality CAMS is an evidence based cost effective suicide specific intervention that facilitates engagement assessment and treatment of suicidal risk Unfortunately most ED and outpatient mental health clinicians do not know CAMS and lack knowledge in how to effectively assess and intervene with suicidal individuals The CAMS Relational Agent System seeks to facilitate the delivery of CAMS and other evidence based procedures to reduce suicide