Efficacy of the I-CARE Digital Health Intervention

Recruiting

I-CARE: Efficacy of a Digital Health Intervention to Reduce Suicidal Ideation During Psychiatric Boarding

Who can join

Ages 12 to 17 · All sexes

Full eligibility criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

* Adolescents of any sex and gender, aged 12-17 years at ED visit or hospital encounter
* Presenting with suicide attempt or ideation, or self-harm
* Medically stable
* English-speaking
* Awaiting transfer for inpatient psychiatric care or disposition.

Exclusion Criteria:

* Cognitive or developmental delays precluding participation (intellectual functioning \<12 years of age)
* Behavioral limitations that preclude program participation
* Active psychosis
* Legal parent/caregiver unable to speak English or unavailable to provide consent (e.g. Wards of the State)

About the study

When presenting to an ED with suicide, self-harm or other mental health crises, youth may also experience "boarding", which is defined by the Joint Commission as "the practice of holding patients in the ED or another temporary location after the decision to admit or transfer has been made." A recent national survey of 88 US acute care hospitals conducted by our research team found that 98.9% of hospitals were boarding youth awaiting psychiatric hospitalization, for an average of 2-3 days. However, as illustrated in a systemic review, little research has focused on developing interventions to support youth during this highly vulnerable time. 3

I-CARE is a modular, blended digital health intervention facilitated by individuals who are not mental health clinical staff to teach youth evidence-based psychosocial skills during the boarding period. This study will evaluate I-CARE's efficacy using a patient-level randomized clinical trial (RCT), randomizing youth to receive standard safety supervision or I-CARE in addition to standard safety supervision. If found to the efficacious, I-CARE could be scaled-up in new settings with limited resources and has the potential to significantly improve the quality of care received by youth experiencing boarding.

What is being tested

Improving Care, Accelerating Recovery & Education (ICARE) (behavioral)

Sponsor: Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center · Participants: 173 · Started: Oct 6, 2025

Contact the study team

Stephanie C. Acquilano, MA · Phone: 603-848-4742

Official record on ClinicalTrials.gov — NCT07150832

Locations in the U.S.

Connecticut	Yale, New Haven
New Hampshire	Dartmouth College, Hanover (Not yet recruiting) Dartmouth Health, Lebanon (Not yet recruiting)
New York	Weill Cornell Medicine, New York

Conditions

From ClinicalTrials.gov, data retrieved Sep 30, 2026. Each study sets its own eligibility; the study team decides who can join.