NCT04763330

Reducing Suicide Risk in Older Veterans Using Problem Solving Therapy

Terminated NA Last updated 16 January 2026

What this trial tests

NA trial testing Enhanced Usual Care (EUC) in Suicidal Ideation in 117 participants. Terminated before completion.

Timeline

24 January 2022

Primary endpoint
5 November 2025

5 November 2025

Quick facts

Lead sponsor	VA Office of Research and Development
Phase	NA
Status	Terminated
Study type	INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation	randomized
Design	parallel
Masking	single
Primary purpose	prevention
Enrollment	117
Start date	24 January 2022
Primary completion	5 November 2025
Estimated completion	5 November 2025
Sites	2 locations across United States

Drugs / interventions tested

• Enhanced Usual Care (EUC)
• Problem Solving Therapy (PST) plus EUC

Conditions studied

• Suicidal Ideation — all drugs for Suicidal Ideation →
• Depressive Disorder — all drugs for Depressive Disorder →
• Anxiety Disorders — all drugs for Anxiety Disorders →
• Post Traumatic Stress Disorder — all drugs for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder →

Sponsor

VA Office of Research and Development — full company profile →

Who can join

55 and older, any sex, with Suicidal Ideation or Depressive Disorder. Patients with the condition only — healthy volunteers not accepted.

Sponsor's own description

Suicide is a national crisis, especially among older Veterans for whom evidence-based suicide prevention efforts are lacking. This proposal responds to the national priority to develop and improve interventions for suicide prevention, with a focus on at-risk older Veterans. The randomized control trial will compare VA usual care, which is suicide safety planning, with brief Problem Solving Therapy and suicide safety planning. This study uses Problem Solving Therapy because it has support from our pilot data and from secondary data analysis from other studies for reducing late life suicide risk. This treatment also has support for alleviating two key risk factors for late life suicide risk, functional disability and executive dysfunction, and thus this study will examine how older Veterans with varying levels of functional disability and executive functioning respond to treatment to inform future targeted implementation. In accordance with national priorities, existing infrastructure in Problem Solving Training could be expanded to support more rapid VA-wide implementation.

Publications & conference data

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

1. Beyond maintaining safety: Examining the benefit of emotion-centered problem solving therapy added to safety planning for reducing late life suicide risk.
   Beaudreau SA, Lutz J, Wetherell JL, Nezu AM, et al · · 2023 · cited 1× · PMID 36921689 · DOI 10.1016/j.cct.2023.107147