The adaptation of a community-based suicide prevention intervention during the COVID19 pandemic: a mixed method study

Abstract

To investigate the outcomes of men using a community-based suicide prevention service before and during COVID-19 and to understand experiences of therapists for the rapid adaptation and delivery of the service throughout the pandemic. A mixed-methods approach using quantitative and qualitative data to assess the delivery of the intervention before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. The CORE-34 and CORE-10 Clinical Outcome Measures (CORE-OM) were used pre and post intervention to measure clinical change in psychological distress for the men engaged with the service. Six therapist interviews were used to supplement this data for the purposes of understanding the delivery of the service remotely during the pandemic. Data was collected between 1 August 2018 and 1 November 2021 (n = 1115). Interview data were conducted between March and May 2021. Across the cohort, for men who received therapy before (n = 450) or during the pandemic (n = 665), there was a statistically significant reduction in mean psychological distress scores between assessment and end of treatment (p < 0.001). Therapists adapted to delivering the hybrid model and discussed the barriers and facilitators to working this way. This study highlighted the effectiveness of the James’ Place suicide prevention model in saving lives and managing to adapt during a global pandemic.

Keywords

• Remote therapy
• suicide prevention
• men
• COVID19
• rapid access
• brief psychological intervention