NCT03730805: KhatAssist

The Adaptation and Evaluation of the WHO's ASSIST-linked Brief Intervention to Khat-Using Ethiopian University Students

Completed NA Last updated 24 March 2020

What this trial tests

NA trial testing ASSIST-linked Brief Intervention in Khat Abuse in 307 participants. Completed in 31 January 2019.

Timeline

15 November 2018

Primary endpoint
15 January 2019

31 January 2019

Quick facts

Lead sponsor	University of Konstanz
Phase	NA
Status	Completed
Study type	INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation	randomized
Design	factorial
Masking	triple
Primary purpose	treatment
Enrollment	307
Start date	15 November 2018
Primary completion	15 January 2019
Estimated completion	31 January 2019
Sites	1 location across Ethiopia

Drugs / interventions tested

• ASSIST-linked Brief Intervention
• Induction of Deliberative Mindset
• Induction of Implemental Mindset

Conditions studied

• Khat Abuse — all drugs for Khat Abuse →

Sponsor

University of Konstanz

Who can join

Adults 18 to 45, any sex, with Khat Abuse. Patients with the condition only — healthy volunteers not accepted.

Sponsor's own description

The leaves of the khat tree (catha edulis) are traditionally chewed in the countries around the Horn of Africa. They contain the amphetamine-like alkaloid cathinone and their use can produce a Substance Use Disorder. The researchers intent to validate an Amharic and an Oromo version of the WHO's ASSIST-linked Brief Intervention among khat-using Ethiopian university students. In an RCT, khat using students of Jimma University with initial motivation to stop or cut down khat use will be randomised to either an intervention or a control group. In the intervention group, the WHO's ASSIST-linked BI will be delivered in a single session by trained local counsellors. In the control group, participants will receive a neuropsychological assessment (Raven's Standard Progressive Matrices, SPM; Raven, 1972). Khat use, the neuropsychological variables and psychiatric symptoms will be assessed before the intervention and two weeks after it. Additionally, the researchers will measure the participants resistance during the session. The control group will receive the intervention after the post test. In order to study state variables that influence brief intervention effectivity, e.g. by increasing or reducing resistance, the researchers randomise subjects in each study arm to several short pre-interventions that are based on Gollwitzer's empirically well established Mindset Theory of Action Phases (for summary: Gollwitzer \& Keller, 2016). This means, before delivering the ASSIST-linked BI (intervention group) or before the SPM assessment (controlgroup) a specific psychological state will be induced by a brief writing task that theoretically should affect the openness to the intervention: (1) implemental mindset, (2) deliberative mindset, (3) no mindset induction. The researchers expect that khat use will be reduced more in the intervention condition compared to the control condition and that induced states influence the effectiveness of the intervention.

Publications & conference data

1 peer-reviewed publication reference this trial (live from Europe PMC):

1. Khat Use Patterns, Associated Features, and Psychological Problems in a Khat-Treatment-Seeking Student Sample of Jimma University, Southwestern Ethiopia.
   Hassen MT, Soboka M, Widmann M, Keller L, et al · · 2021 · cited 5× · PMID 34490174 · DOI 10.3389/fpubh.2021.645980