Suicide prevention for Emergency Department attenders presenting with self-harm and a history of substance misuse

Summary

Research has shown that brief talking therapies can significantly reduce the risk of suicide in people who present to a hospital emergency department (ED) after self-harming. However, while people who use drugs and abuse alcohol are at a much higher risk of suicide compared with people who do not misuse substances, we do not know if brief treatments reduce the risk of suicide among this group. Our study aims to explore this question, by developing and testing a brief intervention designed to reduce the risk of suicide among people who present at ED after self-harming, and who have a history of misusing drugs or alcohol. First, with the help of patients and staff, and building on our knowledge of the existing research, we will develop a new brief intervention. We will train nurses from two acute hospitals in Bristol to deliver the intervention to a series of patients, and then we will find out what staff and patients think about the acceptability, feasibility and safety of the intervention. Our study will lead to the production of a new intervention and an accompanying manual for the management of self-harm among patients attending EDs who abuse drugs and alcohol. If the intervention is proven to be feasible and acceptable, we will use the study findings to help gain funding for a larger study to assess the effectiveness of the intervention.