Feasibility and Effectiveness of a Specialized Brief Intervention for Hazardous Drinkers in an Emergency Department. (PPAU)

Hospital Clinic of Barcelona

Status: Completed

Conditions: Alcohol Drinking

Treatments: Behavioral: Brief Intervention

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT03273283

PPAU

Details and patient eligibility

About

Alcohol use and its consequences represent an important public health problem. As well as alcohol dependence, hazardous drinking also contributes to a high burden in terms of morbidity and mortality. To improve these patients' prognosis and decrease associated social and health care costs, it is necessary to increase early detection, intervention and treatment for these problems. For these reasons, SBIRT programmes (Screening Brief Intervention and Referral to Treatment) have been developed, evaluated and shown to be effective, particularly in primary care and general practice. Nevertheless, effectiveness of SBIRT in emergency departments (ED) has not been clearly established.

The investigators aimed to evaluate the feasibility and efficacy of an SBIRT programme in the ED of a tertiary hospital.

Full description

The investigators conducted a randomized controlled trial to study the feasibility and efficacy of an SBIRT programme for hazardous drinkers presenting in an ED. All patients older than 18 years old attending the emergency department were potentially eligible. Cognitively impaired or medically unstable patients were excluded. Patients seeking treatment for alcohol use were also excluded. Patients were randomized to two groups, with the control group receiving two leaflets - one regarding alcohol use, and the other giving information about the study protocol. The intervention group received the same leaflets as well as a brief motivational intervention on alcohol use; and, where appropriate, a referral to specialised treatment. The primary outcomes were the proportion of hazardous drinkers measured by AUDIT-C scale and the proportion of patients attending specialised treatment at 1.5 and 4.5 months and 1 year.

Enrollment: 200 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• All patients aged 18 or older attending to the emergency department were potentially eligible patients
• Patients with an AUDIT-C score higher than 6 points for men and 5 for woman were invited to participate

Exclusion criteria

• Cognitive impairment
• Medically unstable
• Patients explicitly demanding alcohol treatment

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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200 participants in 2 patient groups

Intervention

Experimental group

Description:

Patients received a brief intervention on alcohol use. This brief intervention was a little chat based on motivational techniques to enhance motivation to reduce alcohol use or to initiate treatment. Patients were referred to specialized treatment when indicated.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Brief Intervention

Control

No Intervention group

Description:

Informative leaflets regarding alcohol use