Brief Intervention and Contact after Deliberate Self-Harm: An Iranian Randomized Controlled Trial

Objective: Previous suicide interventional studies are controversial in their results. The present study compared brief intervention and contact (BIC), with treatment as usual (TAU) in their influence on the repetition of suicide attempts 6-month after the index suicide attempt. Methods: Adults who had attempted suicide were assigned two groups randomly: 311 in the TAU and 321 in the BIC. The brief intervention and contact contained a brief one-hour psycho-educational session combined with follow-up contacts by phone calls or visits after discharge. We used Mann-Whitney U test, ANOVA, and Chi-Square for analysis of variables. Results: The brief intervention and contact did not significantly reduce the repeated suicide attempts, but the patientsʹ need to get support increased significantly (alpha value = 63.67, p < 0.001) compared to the treatment as usual group. Also, the brief intervention and contact group patients tried to get support from outpatient/inpatient services, relatives, friends or by telephone contact to a significantly larger extent (alpha value = 69.2, p < 0.001) compared to the treatment as usual group. Conclusion: brief intervention and contact seems to have an effect on the patientsʹ attitude towards seeking support from outpatient/inpatient services, relatives and friends. Declaration of interest: This study was funded by the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse, World Health Organization [Multi-site Intervention Study on Suicidal Behaviors (SUPRE-MISS)]. Additional support was received from Tehran Psychiatric Institute, Mental Health Research center. Manuscript ID of WHO is CJMH-2008-0093.