Adaptive Interventions for Problem Drinkers

September 9, 2020 updated by: Jonathan Morgenstern, Northwell Health
The purpose of this study is to understand how certain interventions help people reduce or quit their drinking and how certain interventions may help best at certain points in time in the change process.

Study Overview

Detailed Description

Problem drinkers (PDs) represent a majority of the estimated 32 million Americans with alcohol problems that spans a spectrum of severity from individuals who drink excessively and experience of occasional negative consequences to those with moderate Alcohol Dependence (AD) and intact psychosocial functioning. PDs can benefit from relatively brief treatment that could be delivered in mainstream healthcare, but less than 5% receive such care. In addition, PD treatment is only modestly effective, and there is a surprising absence of empirical research to guide PD treatment selection. Adaptive Interventions (AI) are a novel approach to treatment development that may have significant advantages over fixed treatments in improving efficacy and fostering adoption of Evidence Based Practices in mainstream healthcare. If study aims are achieved, a set of empirically-derived decision support tools will be created to guide Alcohol Use Disorders (AUD) care similar to tools that exist for other chronic diseases. In addition, new knowledge will be gained about Mechanisms of Behavior Change of AUD that can guide future AUD treatment research. Finally, important progress will be made in methods that capitalize on the remarkable advances in sensor technologies, advanced mathematics, and engineering to create a new type of tailored, near-real time feedback, adaptive behavior therapies.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

164

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

    • New York
      • Great Neck, New York, United States, 11021
        • Northwell Health

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 75 years (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Primary Inclusion Criteria: Adults who have heavy weekly alcohol consumption (and/or an alcohol use disorder) and are willing to reduce their drinking.

Primary Exclusion Criteria: Adults for whom the level of treatment provided is not appropriate and/or who require more intensive substance use or psychiatric treatment.

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: Factorial Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: Step-up Treatment: MI
After receiving one session of Brief Advice (BA), participants will be assessed at week 4 for response to this treatment. Those who are deemed non-responders to the BA will be randomly assigned to receive either Motivational Interviewing (MI) or more BA. In this arm, participants will receive two sessions of MI.
Motivational Interviewing will consist of standard techniques, such as developing discrepancy, enhancing motivation, and developing a change plan, that have been adapted to treatment for problem drinkers.
Other: Control: BA
After receiving one session of Brief Advice (BA), participants will be assessed at week 4 for response to this treatment. Those who are deemed non-responders to the BA will be randomly assigned to receive either Motivational Interviewing (MI) or more BA. In this arm, participants will receive one additional session of BA.
Brief Advice (BA) consists of a 20-minute session delivered by a study therapist, adhering to the NIAAA's Clinician Guide to Problem Drinkers. It includes personalized, normative feedback based on NIAAA drinking norms, goal selection, instructions on self-monitoring, discussion of drink reduction strategies, and distribution of the NIAAA bibliotherapy guide.
Active Comparator: Step-up Treatment: Specialist Care
After receiving one session of Brief Advice (BA) and two sessions of Motivational Interviewing (MI) or one session of BA over the first 8 weeks of the study, participants will be assessed at week 8 for response to this treatment. Those who are deemed non-responders will be randomly assigned to receive Behavioral Self-Control Training (BSCT) or more MI if they were randomized to MI at week 4 or five sessions of combined MI and BSCT or one more session of MI if they were randomized to BA at week 4. In this arm, participants will receive four sessions of BSCT if they received MI at the previous randomization or five sessions of combined MI and BSCT if they received BA at the previous randomization.
Motivational Interviewing will consist of standard techniques, such as developing discrepancy, enhancing motivation, and developing a change plan, that have been adapted to treatment for problem drinkers.
Behavioral Self-Control Training will consist of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy adapted to problem drinkers, whose core components include a functional analysis, skills training, daily self-monitoring, homework, and graded exposures and mastery of high risk situations.
Other: Control: MI
After receiving one session of Brief Advice (BA) and two sessions of Motivational Interviewing (MI) or one session of BA over the first 8 weeks of the study, participants will be assessed at week 8 for response to this treatment. Those who are deemed non-responders will be randomly assigned to receive Behavioral Self-Control Training (BSCT) or more MI if they were randomized to MI at week 4 or five sessions of combined MI and BSCT or one more session of MI if they were randomized to BA at week 4. In this arm, participants will receive one session of MI if they received MI at the previous randomization or two sessions of MI if they received BA at the previous randomization.
Motivational Interviewing will consist of standard techniques, such as developing discrepancy, enhancing motivation, and developing a change plan, that have been adapted to treatment for problem drinkers.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Time Line Follow Back
Time Frame: 24 Weeks
Calendar-based method of recording drinking patterns. Data will be aggregated into summary variables.
24 Weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Jon Morgenstern, Ph.D., Northwell Health
  • Study Director: Nehal P Vadhan, Northwell Health

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.

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 (Actual)

March 1, 2015

Primary Completion (Actual)

March 1, 2019

Study Completion (Actual)

May 1, 2019

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

July 10, 2015

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 27, 2015

First Posted (Estimate)

July 30, 2015

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

September 11, 2020

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

September 9, 2020

Last Verified

September 1, 2020

More Information

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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