NCT03166709: PARS

Preventing Addiction Related Suicide (PARS)

Completed NA Results posted Last updated 14 August 2025

What this trial tests

NA trial testing Preventing Addiction Related Suicide (PARS) in Suicide in 906 participants. Completed in 28 May 2020.

Timeline

11 October 2017

Primary endpoint
28 May 2020

28 May 2020

Quick facts

Lead sponsor	University of Washington
Phase	NA
Status	Completed
Study type	INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation	randomized
Design	parallel
Masking	none
Primary purpose	prevention
Enrollment	906
Start date	11 October 2017
Primary completion	28 May 2020
Estimated completion	28 May 2020
Sites	16 locations across United States

Drugs / interventions tested

• Preventing Addiction Related Suicide (PARS)
• Intensive Outpatient Program standard session

Conditions studied

• Suicide — all drugs for Suicide →
• Substance-Related Disorders — all drugs for Substance-Related Disorders →

Sponsor

University of Washington

Who can join

18 and older, any sex, with Suicide or Substance-Related Disorders. Patients with the condition only — healthy volunteers not accepted.

Results — posted to ClinicalTrials.gov

Per-arm endpoint measurements with 95% confidence intervals where reported. Source: trial results section.

PARS Help-Seeking Scale Primary · Six months

The PARS Help-Seeking Scale consists of 4 items assessing help-seeking behavior in the context of suicidal thoughts or feelings (e.g., calling a crisis/suicide hotline) developed for our pilot trial22 based on prior suicide prevention programs. Participants reported the frequency of past-month help-seeking on behalf of self or others, including friends and family members, from "never" (=0) to "more than 3 times" (=4). Responses were summed to create a score from 0 to 16 with higher numbers indicating the better outcome of increased help-seeking.

Group	Value	95% CI
Treatment As Usual	0.57	± 1.54
Experimental	0.53	± 1.66

PARS Suicide Knowledge Scale Primary · Six months

The PARS Suicide Knowledge Scale is an 11-item measure adapted from the Staff Suicide Prevention Survey (SSPS) assessing factual understanding of suicide and closely mapped to the content of PARS. Correct responses were summed to create a score from 0 to 11 with higher scores representing the better outcome of greater suicide knowledge.

Group	Value	95% CI
Treatment As Usual	7.47	± 1.89
Experimental	8.24	± 1.83

PARS Attitude Scale Primary · Six months

The PARS Attitude Scale, adapted from the Staff Suicide Prevention Survey (SSPS), consists of 6 items evaluating maladaptive attitudes about suicide stigma and prevention. Responses on a 5-point scale from "strongly disagree" (=1) to "strongly agree" (=5) were summed to create a score from 6 to 30 where lower scores indicate a better outcome.

Group	Value	95% CI
Treatment As Usual	12.29	± 3.60
Experimental	11.14	± 3.88

Suicidal Behavior Questionnaire - Revised Secondary · Six months

The Suicidal Behavior Questionnaire - Revised assesses suicide attempts, ideation, communication, and intent since the last assessment. Total score with higher indicating the worse outcome of suicide risk from lowest (3) to highest (18); non-clinical cutoff 7 and above

Group	Value	95% CI
Treatment As Usual	4.54	± 2.19
Experimental	4.82	± 2.41

Adverse events — posted to ClinicalTrials.gov

Time frame: 6 months. Reporting threshold: 0%. Adverse-event reports describe events observed during the trial — not all are caused by the drug.

Treatment As Usual

Serious: 4/478 (1%)

Deaths: 4/478

Experimental

Serious: 1/428 (0%)

Deaths: 1/428

Serious adverse events (1 terms)

Reaction	System	Treatment As Usual	Experimental
Suicide Attempt, Psychiatric Hospitalization or Any Death	Injury, poisoning and procedural complications	—	—

Most-reported serious reactions: Suicide Attempt, Psychiatric Hospitalization or Any Death.

Data from ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03166709 adverse events section.

Sponsor's own description

The goal of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness and utility of the investigator's National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) R21 developed "Preventing Addiction Related Suicide" (PARS) program by utilizing a novel stepped wedge design to evaluate PARS as a selected prevention program to increase help-seeking by clients in community addiction treatment.

Publications & conference data

1 peer-reviewed publication reference this trial (live from Europe PMC):

1. Effectiveness of a Suicide Prevention Module for Adults in Substance Use Disorder Treatment: A Stepped-Wedge Cluster-Randomized Clinical Trial.
   Ries RK, Livengood AL, Huh D, Kerbrat AH, et al · · 2022 · cited 10× · PMID 35385090 · DOI 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.2945