Alcohol Brief Intervention Plus Personalized Mobile Chat-based Intervention to Reduce Alcohol Misuse in an Emergency Department
Condition: Alcohol Use Disorder
MeSH terms: Emergencies; Alcoholism
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      This project focuses on patients in AED. Objectives of this project are:

        1. To examine the factors associated with alcohol drinking and alcohol use disorder

        2. To examine the effect of face-to-face alcohol brief intervention on drinking reduction

        3. To examine the effect of a continuous interactive chat-based intervention via "WhatsApp"
           on drinking reduction

        4. To explore the perception of face-to-face alcohol brief intervention

        5. To explore the perception of continuous interactive chat-based intervention via instant
           messaging mobile application "WhatsApp"
    

Detailed description: 
      According to the Department of Health, a local epidemiological study was conducted in 2001
      and showed that about one in ten of all motor vehicle deaths were associated with alcohol
      consumption. Also, the statistics from the Transportation department showed that 874 vehicle
      accidents resulting in personal injury were related to alcohol misuse, which included 24
      fatal cases between the period of 2000 and 2010. With the aforementioned statistics
      supported, the hospital Accident and Emergency Department (AED) serves as the most important
      entrance and safeguard to the healthcare system for the public, since victims of traffic
      accidents or violence related to heavy drinking are frequently encountered in AED, this
      serves as an ideal place for provision of initial alcohol intervention and further
      stabilization related to alcohol problem of patients. Although AED is a hectic environment
      with very high patients turnover, substantial evidence had shown feasibility and efficacy of
      Alcohol Brief Intervention (ABI) in reducing patients' subsequent alcohol drinking. In
      oversea, multiple research had been done to show ABI were effective and feasible for reducing
      alcohol misuse, but the effect was not long lasting and lead to subsequent relapse. In
      addition to this, no further trial has been done to investigate the feasibility of
      implementing an RCT on evaluating the effect of ABI and continuous chat-based intervention on
      reducing alcohol consumption among patients in AED in Hong Kong.

      According to the WHO, the standard ABI approach includes: giving feedback and information
      about the screening result and hazard of drinking; emphasizing the benefits of quit drinking
      and informing about alcohol problems; setting goal on reducing alcohol consumption; reviewing
      advice and ; giving encouragement. In this pilot study, a brief alcohol counselling using
      face-to-face ABI will be delivered together with continuous interactive chat-based
      intervention via instant messaging mobile application "WhatsApp" to those patients with AUDIT
      score ≥ 8, who are considered to have hazardous and harmful drinking problems according to
      the guideline.
    

Intervention name(s): Mobile chat-based instant messages; Alcohol brief intervention
Intervention type(s): Behavioral; Behavioral
Intervention description(s): Subjects in the active arm study will receive 5-minute face-to-face ABI, alcohol leaflet from Department of Health (DH) plus continuous interactive chat-based intervention for 1 month as an extension of alcohol brief intervention at baseline; The Control group will receive face-to-face ABI plus an alcohol leaflet from DH.
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)
Primary purpose: Treatment
Keywords: chat-based intervention; alcohol brief intervention; Alcohol misuse; Accident & Emergency Department; AUDIT; instant messaging