Alcohol Expert System Intervention for Problematic Alcohol Use

April 1, 2014 updated by: Hans-Jürgen Rumpf, University of Luebeck

Randomized Controlled Trial of a Expert System for Patients With At-risk Drinking, Alcohol Abuse and Alcohol Dependence in General Hospital

In a randomized controlled trial, patients recruited in a general hospital and fulfilling criteria for alcohol dependence, alcohol abuse or at-risk drinking will be randomly allocated to two conditions:(1) Transtheoretical Model (TTM)-based expert system group, patients receive an individualized feedback on drinking norms, health-related risks and core constructs of the TTM, augmented by a TTM-based manual, (2) Control group,receiving a booklet on health behavior.

Outcome assessment will be conducted after 12 months. The hypothesis is that individualized feedback leads to greater reduction in alcohol consumption and elevated readiness to change at follow-up.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Background: A promising approach in secondary prevention of problem drinking is to provide brief interventions in medical settings. However, brief interventions have not become implemented in general practices (GPs) due to insufficient role security and therapeutic commitment of physicians. Computerized expert systems can provide very cost-effective means of intervention and have been effective in the field of smoking cessation. However, in the alcohol field, research on this issue is scarce.

Objectives: Comparing an expert system based on the Transtheoretical Model of behavior change for patients with at-risk drinking, alcohol abuse or alcohol dependence to a control condition. Methods: About 2,500 screenings among consecutive general hospital patients aged 18 to 64 will be conducted. Subjects fulfilling inclusion criteria (severe alcohol dependence excluded) will be randomly assigned to one of two conditions with 150 patients each: (1) In the TTM-based expert system group, patients receive an individualized feedback on drinking norms, health-related risks and core constructs of the TTM, augmented by a TTM-based manual. (2) In the control group, participants receive a booklet on health behavior. Outcome assessment will be conducted after 12 months. Outcome variables are alcohol consumption, stages of change progress and utilization of formal help. Expected impact: Findings are expected to provide evidence for a computerized TTM based expert system to be used in primary care. This would be the first international results confirming such an approach in the alcohol field. If a TTM-based expert system would be effective, this could significantly save resources and enhance secondary prevention. Therefore, data are of great public health interest. Relationship to the objective of the collaboration: As in the other studies, empirical data on new proactive approaches to reach underserved populations in the addiction field will be provided. The project will add knowledge on the economical use of interventions.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

347

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • Germany
      • Luebeck, Germany, 23538
        • University of Luebeck, Dpt. of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years to 64 years (ADULT)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Alcohol Abuse
  • Alcohol Dependence
  • At-risk drinking

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Current treatment for alcohol problems
  • Terminal illness

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: TREATMENT
  • Allocation: RANDOMIZED
  • Interventional Model: PARALLEL
  • Masking: SINGLE

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
EXPERIMENTAL: Expert System Intervention
Computerized Expert System Intervention based on the Transtheoretical Model of Change: 1. Normative feedback and feedback on motivational variables during the first week of hospital stay 2. Ipsative feedback on drinking behavior and motivation to change after three months
Behavioral: Expert System Intervention
Questionnaires on motivation to change and alcohol consumption were assessed in a clinical interview. Data were entered in a Computer and a fully automatized feedback letter was generated by an expert system. The printed feedback letter was handed out to patients by study staff the following day.
NO_INTERVENTION: Control group
Controls received a brochure on health behavior

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Average alcohol consumption (QF) gr/alc. per day
Time Frame: 12 months
Main outcome is reduction in daily average alcohol consumption, operationalized by a Quantity-/Frequency measure
12 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Readiness to change drinking behavior
Time Frame: 12 months
Readiness to change questionnaire
12 months

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

University of Luebeck

Collaborators

German Federal Ministry of Education and Research

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

October 1, 2004

Primary Completion (ACTUAL)

November 1, 2005

Study Completion (ACTUAL)

November 1, 2006

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

November 14, 2006

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

November 14, 2006

First Posted (ESTIMATE)

November 16, 2006

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (ESTIMATE)

April 2, 2014

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 1, 2014

Last Verified

April 1, 2014

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 01EB0421-1

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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