Mobile Chat Messaging for Alcohol Reduction in Patients With Chronic Liver Diseases

September 16, 2026 updated by: Tzu Tsun Luk, The University of Hong Kong

Mobile Chat Messaging Plus Screening-based Brief Alcohol Intervention for Patients With Chronic Liver Diseases: a Pilot Randomised Controlled Trial

The goal of this pilot randomized controlled trial is to evaluate the trial feasibility and acceptability of mobile chat messaging for reducing alcohol use among patients with chronic liver diseases. Specific objectives include:

  1. To assess whether the eligibility criteria were too restrictive by estimating the eligibility rate
  2. To assess how many eligible CLD patients accepted the invitation to participate in the trial
  3. To assess the participant retention rate through 6 months after treatment initiation
  4. To assess the intervention acceptability in terms of participants' engagement with and rating of the chat messaging intervention.
  5. To assess the safety of the intervention
  6. To estimate the intervention effect on alcohol use outcomes and liver functions
  7. To synthesise data to inform the sample size calculation in the future definitive trial
  8. To explore the participants' perception and experiences in the chat-based intervention

Study Overview

Status

Active, not recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

106

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

  • Hong Kong
      • Hong Kong, Hong Kong
        • Queen Mary Hospital

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

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  1. Age ≥18 years
  2. Diagnosed with chronic liver disease
  3. Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test score ≥8
  4. Own a smartphone with a mobile instant messaging app installed
  5. Able to read and communicate in Chinese

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. Having a psychiatric or psychological disease or on psychotropic drugs
  2. Participating in other alcohol reduction or abstinence programmes
  3. Require emergency or in-patient treatment after consultation

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
Experimental: Mobile chat messaging

Mobile chat messaging + Screening-based alcohol intervention
Behavioral: Mobile chat messaging

A trained counsellor will interact with a participant individually and provide personalised alcohol reduction information and advice via a mobile instant messaging app in real time for 3 months from randomisation.

Behavioral: Screening, brief intervention and referral to treatment

Brief counselling (5 to 10 mins) to reduce drinking and a self-help booklet

Other Names:
  • SBIRT
Active Comparator: Brief intervention

Screening-based alcohol intervention only
Behavioral: Screening, brief intervention and referral to treatment

Brief counselling (5 to 10 mins) to reduce drinking and a self-help booklet

Other Names:
  • SBIRT

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Recruitment rate
Time Frame: Through recruitment completion, about 8 months

Number of participants divided by the number of eligible subjects
Through recruitment completion, about 8 months
Retention rate
Time Frame: 6 months after randomisation

Number of participants completed the follow-up divided by the number of participants
6 months after randomisation
Weekly alcohol consumption
Time Frame: 6 months after randomisation

Assessed by questions 1 and 2 of AUDIT-C
6 months after randomisation

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Total alcohol consumption in the past week
Time Frame: 6 months after randomisation
6 months after randomisation
Eligibility rate
Time Frame: Through recruitment completion, about 8 months

Number of eligible patients divided by the number of patients screened
Through recruitment completion, about 8 months
Weekly alcohol consumption
Time Frame: 3 months after randomisation

Assessed by questions 1 and 2 of AUDIT-C
3 months after randomisation
Frequency of heavy episodic drinking
Time Frame: 3 months after randomisation

Self-reported
3 months after randomisation
Frequency of heavy episodic drinking
Time Frame: 6 months after randomisation

Assessed by question three of AUDIT-C
6 months after randomisation
AUDIT score and level
Time Frame: 3 months after randomisation

Assessed by the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test
3 months after randomisation
AUDIT score and level
Time Frame: 6 months after randomisation

Assessed by the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test
6 months after randomisation
Past 7-day alcohol abstinence
Time Frame: 3 months after randomisation

Self-reported
3 months after randomisation
Past 7-day alcohol abstinence
Time Frame: 6 months after randomisation

Self-reported
6 months after randomisation
Past 30-day alcohol abstinence
Time Frame: 3 months after randomisation

Self-reported
3 months after randomisation
Past 30-day alcohol abstinence
Time Frame: 6 months after randomisation

Self-reported
6 months after randomisation
Past 7-day total alcohol consumption
Time Frame: 3 months after randomisation

Measured in grams
3 months after randomisation

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

The University of Hong Kong

Collaborators

Health and Medical Research Fund

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Tzu Tsun Luk, PhD, RN, The University of Hong Kong

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)

October 2, 2024

Primary Completion (Actual)

September 19, 2025

Study Completion (Estimated)

December 31, 2026

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

September 5, 2024

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

September 5, 2024

First Posted (Actual)

September 19, 2024

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

September 21, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

September 16, 2026

Last Verified

September 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 21222731

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

UNDECIDED

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

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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