@article{ref1,
title="Clinical effectiveness and safety of adding a self-harm prevention app (BlueIce) to specialist mental health care for adolescents who repeatedly self-harm: a single blind randomised controlled trial (the BASH study)",
journal="Psychiatry research",
year="2024",
author="Stallard, Paul and Whittle, Kathryn and Moore, Emma and Medina-Lara, Antonieta and Morrish, Nia and Cliffe, Bethany and Rhodes, Shelley and Taylor, Gordon",
volume="339",
number="",
pages="e116017-e116017",
abstract="No randomised controlled trials have evaluated whether the addition of a smartphone app to usual child and adolescent mental health care (CAMHS) can reduce self-harm in adolescents (<18 years) with repeated self-harm. We enrolled 170 participants aged 12-17, receiving CAMHS treatment who had self-harmed ≥2 in the past 12 months. Participants were randomised via an independent web-based system (1:1, minimised for gender, age, self-harm frequency, and depression severity) to treatment as usual (TAU) or treatment as usual plus BlueIce (TAU+BI). BlueIce is a self-harm prevention app that includes techniques from CBT and DBT that was co-designed with adolescents who self-harm. The primary outcome was change from baseline to 12-weeks on the self-harm scale of the Risk Taking and Self-Harm Inventory for Adolescents (RTSHIA), analysed by intention to treat (ITT). Emergency department attendances or admissions for self-harm were assessed over 6-months via a review of clinical records. Both groups improved but there were no statistically significant between group differences at 12 weeks or 6 months on the self-harm scale of the RTSHIA. There were fewer emergency department attendances and admissions in those who received the app, a finding that approached statistical significance. BlueIce can be helpful in some important aspects by contributing to fewer emergency department admissions and attendances. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Trial registration number ISRCTN10541045.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0165-1781",
doi="10.1016/j.psychres.2024.116017",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2024.116017"
}