Initial evaluation of a personalized advantage index to determine which individuals may benefit from mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for suicide prevention.
Behaviour Research and Therapy December 1, 2024 Catherine E Myers, Chintan V Dave, Megan S Chesin et al.
A treatment matching algorithm was developed to predict which Veterans at high risk for suicide would benefit more from Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for suicide prevention (MBCT-S) versus enhanced treatment-as-usual (eTAU). Using data from a randomized clinical trial with 140 Veterans, random forest models predicted risk of a suicidal event within 12 months. The model for MBCT-S was slightly more accurate than for eTAU. Key predictors for MBCT-S included PTSD diagnosis, neurocognitive performance, prior residential treatment, and non-suicidal self-injury; for eTAU, past-year hospitalizations, therapy visits, suicidal ideation severity, and attentional control were important. Fewer suicidal events occurred among those assigned to their algorithm-indicated optimal treatment, suggesting the approach may improve outcomes, but further research is needed.