Pilot Test of the Forming Love around Autistic people to Prevent Suicide Program.
Anne V Kirby, Zack Siddeek, Bobbi Duncan-Ishcomer and 10 others
PMID 42770169WHAT IT FOUND
Participants at autism service organizations reported higher suicide prevention knowledge, capacity, and actions after four virtual sessions, and at three months.
No patient suicide outcomes were measured, so this is early feasibility, not proof of prevention.
Key findings
01Participants' suicide prevention knowledge and capacity scores and action scores increased from before the program to after it and to three months, with moderate-to-large effect sizes in simple pre-post tests.
02In conservative models that assumed dropouts showed no change and accounted for participants being grouped within organizations, knowledge, capacity, and actions still increased after the program, but more modestly.
0374% of the 32 participants who completed the post-program survey agreed or strongly agreed that FLAPS encouraged new thinking, was worth their time, and could be used by their organization.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
There was no control group and no randomisation, so the observed increases cannot be separated from time, expectations, or other changes. This was a pilot with first use of the outcome measure and no prior information for a power analysis, so it is not powered to show effectiveness. Long-term outcomes, including reduced suicidality or improved well-being for autistic people, were not measured. Missingness was high at three months, and lower response rates limit what can be concluded about lasting effects. Participants were mostly white women and service providers; only 11.8% were autistic themselves, so the findings may not represent autistic people or more diverse groups. Organizations with 5 or fewer expected participants were not run as single-site cohorts, so the pilot does not show how the program works in very small organizations. The work was developed and tested in the United States, so cultural and service-system differences may limit relevance elsewhere.
Declared interests
The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that FLAPS reduces suicide risk or suicidal thoughts in autistic people. This pilot measured only short-term knowledge, capacity, and actions in organization participants, had no control group, and did not measure long-term suicide outcomes.