# Preventing Addiction Related Suicide (PARS) - Controlled Trial of Secondary Suicide Prevention

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON · 2020 · $427,186

## Abstract

Project Abstract/Summary
Studies consistently show suicide and suicidal behaviors are highly related to substance use disorders (SUDs).
Recent reviews find that the risk of suicide is 10-17 times higher for people using multiple drugs, injecting
drugs, and for alcohol use disorders. Utilizing clearly established Stage I guidelines for developing and
adapting behavioral interventions, as well as information included in a SAMHSA Treatment Improvement
Protocol (TIP50) on suicide and addiction, the current Investigators developed the Preventing Addiction
Related Suicide (PARS) program by integrating the content of empirically-supported secondary suicide
prevention programs. PARS is a psychoeducational program taught as a single 3 hour module integrated into
a standard group therapy-oriented Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP), the most common form of community
drug abuse treatment.9 PARS was conceptualized and developed with a team of community treatment leaders
who advised on its scope, duration, and approach. Community partners reviewed early drafts and all pilot
testing was conducted in community treatment settings. Pilot testing of PARS demonstrated significant post-
intervention increases in client knowledge of suicide and decreases in maladaptive attitudes toward suicide;
both were maintained at 1-month follow-up. The likelihood of positive help seeking to prevent suicide for
themselves as well as for a friend and for family all doubled for the month after the program compared to the
month before. Given these promising Stage I results in Stage III settings, we propose a fully-powered Stage III
effectiveness trial of PARS compared to Treatment-As-Usual (TAU) using a randomized stepped wedge
design with 900 clients in 15 community addiction treatment sites in Washington State to replicate the pilot
findings and evaluate how the mechanisms of improving accurate information and attitudes about suicide
promote help-seeking. This proposal is innovative in its topic and development in community settings as well
as its use of a stepped wedge design. Community treatment agencies, by integrating PARS into their IOP
group treatment, are in a unique position to act as key players in the national suicide prevention strategy by
providing accurate suicide prevention information, improving attitudes toward suicide, and increasing help-
seeking skills to one of the most high-risk suicidal populations in the country.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9957037
- **Project number:** 5R01DA041486-05
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
- **Principal Investigator:** KATHERINE ANNE COMTOIS
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $427,186
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2016-08-15 → 2021-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9957037

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9957037, Preventing Addiction Related Suicide (PARS) - Controlled Trial of Secondary Suicide Prevention (5R01DA041486-05). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9957037. Licensed CC0.

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