Clinical trial NCT03823599: Alcohol Brief Intervention Plus Personalized Mobile Chat-based Intervention to Reduce Alcohol Misuse in an Emergency Department
Official title: A Pilot Study on the Feasibility of Alcohol Brief Intervention Plus Personalized Mobile Chat-based Intervention to Reduce Alcohol Misuse in an Emergency Department in Hong Kong
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Alcohol Use Disorder
Keywords: chat-based intervention
alcohol brief intervention
Alcohol misuse
Accident & Emergency Department
AUDIT
instant messaging
Lead sponsor: The University of Hong Kong
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: Queen Mary Hospital, Hong Kong
First posted: 2019-01-30
Enrollment: 20
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Maximum age (years): 65
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: TREATMENT

Brief 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.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

1. Hong Kong resident aged 18 to 65
2. scored ≥ 8 in the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT) in the past 12 months
3. able to communicate in Cantonese (including reading Chinese)
4. using a phone with instant messaging mobile application "WhatsApp" installed for communication.

Exclusion Criteria:

1. patients with communication barrier (either physically or cognitively)
2. currently participating in other alcohol treatment services or clinics
3. will be hospitalized immediate after A\&E consultation

Primary outcomes:
measure: change in unit of alcohol consumption in gram
timeFrame: at 3-month after baseline.
Secondary outcomes:
measure: change in unit of alcohol consumption in gram
timeFrame: at 1-month after phase I
measure: change in episode of binge drinking measured by asking "Never", "less than a month", "two to four times a month", " two to three times a week" and "almost everyday"
timeFrame: at 1 and 3 months after phase I
measure: change in frequency of drinking by asking "Never", "less than a month", "two to four times a month", " two to three times a week" and "almost everyday"
timeFrame: at 1 and 3 months after phase I
measure: attempt to reduce drinking measured by asking whether they have tried to reduce drinking at past month (yes or no)
timeFrame: at 1 and 3 months after phase I
measure: change in confidence to reduce drinking measured by Likert scale (1-10)
timeFrame: at 1 and 3 months after phase I
measure: Alcohol Problems Scale at 1 and 3-month follow-up
timeFrame: at 1 and 3 months after phase I
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Hong Kong
country: Hong Kong
facility: School of Nursing, The University of Hong Kong
Study officials:
affiliation: The University of Hong Kong
name: Man Ping Wang, PhD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References: