TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2023//
TI  - The Mental Imagery for Suicidality in Students Trial (MISST): study protocol for a feasibility randomised controlled trial of broad-minded affective coping (BMAC) plus risk assessment and signposting versus risk assessment and signposting alone
JO  - Pilot and feasibility studies
A1  - Taylor, Peter James
A1  - Duxbury, Paula
A1  - Moorhouse, Jane
A1  - Russell, Chloe
A1  - Pratt, Dan
A1  - Parker, Sophie
A1  - Sutton, Chris
A1  - Lobban, Fiona
A1  - Drake, Richard
A1  - Eccles, Steve
A1  - Ryder, David
A1  - Patel, Rafeea
A1  - Kimber, Elizabeth
A1  - Kerry, Eirian
A1  - Randles, Nathan
A1  - Kelly, James
A1  - Palmier-Claus, Jasper
SP  - e43
EP  - e43
VL  - 9
IS  - 1
N2  - BACKGROUND: Going to university is an important milestone in many people's lives. It can also be a time of significant challenge and stress. There are growing concerns about mental health amongst student populations including suicide risk. Student mental health and counselling services have the potential to prevent suicide, but evidence-based therapies are required that fit these service contexts. The Broad-Minded Affective Coping intervention (BMAC) is a brief (6 sessions), positive imagery-based intervention that aims to enhance students access to past positive experiences and associated emotions and cognitions. Pilot data provides preliminary support for the BMAC for students struggling with suicidal thoughts and behaviours, but this intervention has not yet been evaluated in the context of a randomised controlled trial (RCT). The Mental Imagery for Suicidality in Students Trial (MISST) is a feasibility RCT that aims to determine the acceptability and feasibility of evaluating the BMAC as an intervention for university students at risk of suicide within a larger efficacy trial. Key feasibility uncertainties have been identified relating to recruitment, retention, and missing data. Intervention acceptability and safety will also be evaluated. <br><br>METHOD: MISST is a feasibility randomised controlled trial design, with 1:1 allocation to risk assessment and signposting plus BMAC or risk assessment and signposting alone. Participants will be university students who self-report experiences of suicidal ideation or behaviour in the past 3 months. Assessments take place at baseline, 8, 16, and 24 weeks. The target sample size is 66 participants. A subset of up to 20 participants will be invited to take part in semi-structured qualitative interviews to obtain further data concerning the acceptability of the intervention. <br><br>DISCUSSION: The BMAC intervention may provide an effective, brief talking therapy to help university students struggling with suicidal thoughts that could be readily implemented into university student counselling services. Depending on the results of MISST, the next step would be to undertake a larger-scale efficacy trial. TRIAL REGISTRATION: The trial was preregistered (17 December 2021) on ISRCTN (ISRCTN13621293) and ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT05296538).<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 2055-5784
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s40814-023-01273-7
ID  - ref1
ER  -