Grant: Doctoral Research Award: Canada Graduate Scholarships

BACKGROUND: Suicide is currently the second leading cause of death among youth and young adults in Canada. One best practice for suicide prevention is Safety Planning Intervention (SPI), a collaborative process between healthcare professionals and a patient to develop a plan that includes coping strategies, emergency contacts, and restricting dangerous items. The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) has developed a SPI application (app), the Hope App, that allows individuals to create a personalized safety plan in consultation with their healthcare professionals. The widespread use of mobile phones highlights new innovative opportunities to introduce an app-based SPI. PROBLEM: Despite the potential benefit of using apps for mental health, clinical integration is limited, partly attributable to a lack of rigorous implementation and theoretical basis in research. Furthermore, not all patients have smartphones or digital literacy skills, all of which are attributable to social factors such as income, age, and place of residence. OBJECTIVE: The proposed research aims to leverage knowledge translation and implementation frameworks to integrate the Hope App into routine practice with digital equity considerations in mind. METHODS: Firstly, I will identify barriers and enablers for integrating the Hope App into routine practice. Secondly, I will develop strategies to overcome identified barriers and/or enhance enablers, and I will collaborate with clinicians and patients during this process. Furthermore, I will leverage the Social Justice Framework for Bridging the Digital Divide to guide the development of strategies that can deliver the Hope App without excluding any group of population. Lastly, I will execute and evaluate the implementation strategies for the Hope App at CAMH. SIGNIFICANCE: By using proven strategies to support the adoption of the Hope App into routine practice, this research aims to increase SPI deliveries and contribute to suicide prevention.