Dual Reinforcement Contingency Management for Alcohol Use Disorders (Peth)

February 4, 2026 updated by: Sheila Alessi, UConn Health
Phosphatidylethanol (PEth) is a direct biomarker of alcohol that can detect moderate to heavy drinking with high sensitivity and specificity over 3-week periods. Reinforcing negative PEth results alongside attendance may increase the proportion of participants who respond to CM during and post treatment. In the proposed study, the investigators will collect PEth samples every 3 weeks for 12 weeks in 150 participants initiating outpatient treatment for alcohol use disorders. Using a two-group randomized design, participants will be assigned to standard care with PEth monitoring alone or with CM for attending treatment and submitting PEth negative samples. Compared to standard care and monitoring, the investigators expect that the CM intervention will result in greater attendance, more PEth negative samples, and higher proportions of self-reported non-drinking days, along with lower proportions of heavy drinking days, over the short term and the long term, measured throughout a 12-month follow-up. The investigators anticipate that the reinforcement intervention may decrease other drug use and sexual risk behaviors that spread HIV, reduce psychiatric symptoms, and improve quality of life as well.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

74

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

  • United States
    • Connecticut
      • Hartford, Connecticut, United States, 06105
        • The Village

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 and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • in intensive outpatient treatment
  • DSM-5 diagnosis of an alcohol use disorder

Exclusion Criteria:

  • have a condition that may hinder study participation

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 Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: Control Group
Standard care
Behavioral: Standard care
standard treatment for substance use disorders, along with sample monitoring
Experimental: Experimental Group
Standard care plus contingency management
Behavioral: Standard care
standard treatment for substance use disorders, along with sample monitoring
Behavioral: Contingency management
Participants can earn reinforcement for attending group and abstinence from alcohol

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Group attendance
Time Frame: 12 weeks
longest consecutive days attended groups
12 weeks
Alcohol abstinence
Time Frame: 12 weeks
number of negative PEth samples
12 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

UConn Health

Collaborators

National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Sheila Alessi, Ph.D., UConn Health

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)

January 22, 2020

Primary Completion (Actual)

November 25, 2025

Study Completion (Actual)

November 25, 2025

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

August 20, 2019

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 20, 2019

First Posted (Actual)

August 22, 2019

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

February 9, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 4, 2026

Last Verified

December 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 19-146-2

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.

No

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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