Motivational Interviewing to Reduce Substance Use Among Depression Patients

University of California San Francisco (UCSF)

Status: Completed

Conditions: Substance-Related Disorders; Depression

Treatments: Behavioral: Motivational Interviewing; Behavioral: Control (brochure)

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT02420561

10-03323

Details and patient eligibility

About

The study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of an intervention to reduce alcohol and drug use and depression symptoms, improve functional status and promote appropriate health services utilization, in a sample of 300 adults seeking treatment for depression who also report hazardous drinking or drug use with depression.

Full description

This study addresses important questions regarding how to identify and treat patients in Psychiatry who present for services with alcohol or drug use that may exacerbate depression. The investigators propose a study of Brief Motivational Intervention (BMI) to reduce drug and alcohol use among patients with depression, and to enhance engagement with a Kaiser Chemical Dependency Recovery Program (CDRP) as needed. Patients with depression who use drugs or alcohol even at sub-diagnostic levels are at high risk for escalation of substance problems. BMI is an innovative, evidence-based approach that could decrease drug and alcohol use and improve outcomes. But it has not been tested among depression patients. This study sample will include 300 outpatients in treatment for depression in Kaiser Permanente Northern California Hayward/Fremont Psychiatry. Inclusion criteria are based on drug use (any illicit drug use and non-prescribed use of prescription drugs) and hazardous drinking (i.e., ≥ 3 drinks in a day for women and ≥ 4 drinks in a day for men), and moderate to severe depression symptoms at intake. Three hundred patients will be randomized to receive one in-person BMI session and two telephone BMI sessions within 6 weeks of intake (intervention) or a brochure on risks of drug and alcohol use (control). The investigators anticipate that the intervention will be effective in reducing frequency of drug use and hazardous drinking at 3-, 6-, and 12-month telephone follow-up interviews; improving mood and functional outcomes; increasing depression treatment retention (number of psychiatry visits, based on Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS) standards); and facilitating patient initiation of chemical dependency program treatment if needed, and will be cost effective. For the improvement of patient care, it will also yield important information on integrating alcohol and drug intervention in Psychiatry and how best to help patients access specialty CDRP services when needed.

Enrollment: 307 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Hazardous drinking (i.e., ≥ 3 drinks in a day for women and ≥ 4 drinks in a day for men)
• Drug use (including any illicit drug use and non-prescribed use of prescription drugs in the prior 30 days)
• Moderate or greater symptoms of depression based on a score of ≥ 5 on the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9)

Exclusion criteria

• Current mania or psychosis

Trial design

Primary purpose: Health Services Research

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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307 participants in 2 patient groups

Motivational Interviewing

Experimental group

Description:

The motivational interviewing (MI) intervention consisted of one 45-minute in-person MI session followed by two 15-minute telephone "booster" sessions

Treatment:

Behavioral: Motivational Interviewing

Control

Active Comparator group

Description:

Participants received a brochure on alcohol and drug use risks.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Control (brochure)