The Impact of Allied Health Brief Therapy Clinic Interventions in Consumers in Suicidal Crisis

Brief interventions increase access to and engagement with care for people who are discharged presentation to emergency departments or inpatient care due to suicidal behavior. This study was to investigate the effectiveness of the Allied Health Brief Therapies (AHBT) clinic interventions on suicide ideation, health service utilization, negative emotional states, and functioning and well-being in consumers in suicidal crisis. This research was designed as pre-post study. Three AHBT clinics were established to provide brief interventions in Queensland Australia. Repeated measures ANOVA and McNemar's test were used to measure the impact of the interventions. Sensitivity analysis was conducted to ensure the robustness and appropriate interpretation of the results. Among the 141 consumers who accepted the referral, 106 (75.2%) attended the AHBT sessions, and 35 (24.8%) did not start the interventions. The AHBT clinic interventions reduced consumers' presence and frequency of suicide ideation, emergency department presentations, and negative emotional states (depression, anxiety, and stress), and increased their functioning and well-being with large effect sizes. Change in the frequency of inpatient admission after the AHBT clinic interventions was statistically non-significant. This study provides evidence that the AHBT clinics can reduce suicidal risk factors, decrease health service utilization, and increase functioning and well-being in consumers in suicidal crisis. Future research should consider the use of a control group to increase confidence in the findings.