NCT03984786

Internet-delivered Therapy for Alcohol Misuse: Factorial Trial of Assessment and Guidance

Completed NA Last updated 8 May 2024

What this trial tests

NA trial testing Assessment Interview in Alcohol Misuse in 312 participants. Completed in 11 April 2024.

Timeline

31 July 2019

Primary endpoint
5 January 2022

11 April 2024

Quick facts

Lead sponsor	University of Regina
Phase	NA
Status	Completed
Study type	INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation	randomized
Design	factorial
Masking	triple
Primary purpose	treatment
Enrollment	312
Start date	31 July 2019
Primary completion	5 January 2022
Estimated completion	11 April 2024
Sites	1 location across Canada

Drugs / interventions tested

• Assessment Interview
• Guidance
• ICBT for alcohol misuse

Conditions studied

• Alcohol Misuse — all drugs for Alcohol Misuse →

Sponsor

University of Regina

Who can join

18 and older, any sex, with Alcohol Misuse. Patients with the condition only — healthy volunteers not accepted.

Sponsor's own description

Internet-delivered cognitive behaviour therapy (ICBT) shows considerable promise as a convenient treatment for alcohol misuse. ICBT may differ in whether the user works alone (self-guided) or along with an individual who guides treatment (e.g., therapist/health educator). Guided ICBT involves completing online lessons over several weeks coupled with support from a guide in the form of emails, online messages and/or brief telephone calls. Self-guided ICBT allows users to complete lessons by themselves without any contact with a guide. In some studies, guided-ICBT has shown greater reductions in alcohol consumption than self-guided ICBT. Further, some research on alcohol treatment shows that assessment in itself may have an effect on alcohol consumption, a phenomenon referred to in the literature as "assessment reactivity". It is believed that verbalizing one's drinking problems to another person might lead to greater realization of the problem extent and severity, which in turn can lead to initiation of the change process. Experimental studies have shown that extended and frequent assessments lead to greater alcohol reductions compared to brief and infrequent assessments.

Although ICBT for alcohol misuse is an attractive treatment option, it is not often available to clients as part of routine care. The Online Therapy Unit at the University of Regina is currently exploring extending services to include guided ICBT for alcohol misuse. The Unit has been providing treatment in ICBT for depression and anxiety as well as various health conditions since 2010 and has offered treatment to \~4200 individuals. The purpose of this study is to evaluate ICBT for individuals with alcohol misuse within the routine online clinic, and to investigate ways to optimize future modes of delivery. Of specific interest in this study, is how outcomes vary depending on whether or not weekly guidance from a health educator is available and whether or not an initial extended assessment telephone call is included or not compared to a briefer screening telephone call. Of interest will also be if the extended assessment leads to greater alcohol reductions and higher motivation pre-treatment.

Publications & conference data

3 peer-reviewed publications reference this trial (live from Europe PMC):

1. Optimizing internet-delivered cognitive behaviour therapy for alcohol misuse-a randomized factorial trial examining effects of a pre-treatment assessment interview and guidance.
   Sundström C, Peynenburg V, Chadwick C, Thiessen D, et al · · 2022 · cited 10× · PMID 35871010 · DOI 10.1186/s13722-022-00319-0
2. Improving internet-delivered cognitive behaviour therapy for alcohol misuse: Patient perspectives following program completion.
   Hadjistavropoulos HD, Chadwick C, Beck CD, Edmonds M, et al · · 2021 · cited 8× · PMID 34722165 · DOI 10.1016/j.invent.2021.100474
3. Optimizing internet-delivered cognitive behaviour therapy for alcohol misuse: a study protocol for a randomized factorial trial examining the effects of a pre-treatment assessment interview and health educator guidance.
   Sundström C, Hadjistavropoulos H, Wilhelms A, Keough M, et al · · 2020 · cited 4× · PMID 32183769 · DOI 10.1186/s12888-020-02506-2