An app-enhanced inpatient-to-post-discharge intervention model for suicidal patients: Acceptability, feasibility, and...

Inpatient psychiatric hospitalization represents a critical but time-limited opportunity to provide suicide-focused intervention. Yet brief stays and system constraints limit patients' ability to learn, retain, and apply evidence-based skills after discharge. The goal of this open pilot study was to evaluate the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary within-person effects of a multimodal continuity-of-care intervention model that integrates brief inpatient sessions, post-discharge telehealth, and an app-based ecological momentary intervention (EMI).

Psychiatric inpatients (n = 60) admitted for severe suicidal ideation or behavior completed a brief in-hospital intervention, followed by app-based ecological momentary assessment (EMA) and optional EMI practice for 4 weeks post-discharge.

Feasibility was mixed: most participants completed all inpatient sessions and nearly half completed at least one via post-discharge telehealth, but only 63% used the app at least once (37% never did, and some who did engaged only a few times). Acceptability was high among those who engaged, who rated the intervention as helpful and relevant. EMI practice was associated with short-term reductions in negative affect variables (overall negative affect, sadness, anxiety) and suicidal thinking, and with modest longer-interval reductions across EMA assessments.

These results show that blended inpatient-to-post-discharge model that begins during the inpatient stay and continues post-discharge incorporating app-based skills practice appears feasible, acceptable, and safe for suicidal inpatients. EMA results provide preliminary support for short-term symptom improvement, supporting the need for a controlled trial to test clinical effectiveness.