Clinical trial NCT02968186: Implementing Screening and Brief Interventions for Excessive Drinkers in Primary Health Care
Official title: Implementing Screening and Brief Interventions for Excessive Drinkers in Primary Health Care
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Alcohol-Related Disorders
Keywords: Mass Screening
Counseling
Primary Health Care
Lead sponsor: Agrupamento de Centros de Saúde de Dão Lafões
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: University of Cambridge
name: University of Stirling
name: Université Catholique de Louvain
First posted: 2016-11-18
Enrollment: 222
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH

Brief summary: The objective of this study is to investigate the efficacy of an implementation program specifically designed to increase alcohol screening and brief intervention rates in primary health care.

Detailed description: Alcohol is an important risk factor for several diseases, even when consumed moderately. Screening and advising at-risk drinkers to cut-down is a highly effective and cost-effective intervention when conducted in primary healthcare settings. However, these interventions are seldom implemented at the primary care level.

Twelve out of the 26 primary health care units of the Dão Lafões Grouping of Primary Health Care Centres will be randomized to two groups: the intervention arm will receive the new implementation program; the control group will be on a waiting list for receiving the implementation program and will receive the intervention after the testing phase of the trial is completed. The study will last for one year, starting in January 2017. The implementation program was designed in order to overcome known barriers for implementing alcohol screening and brief advice in primary health care. The Behaviour Change Wheel and the Theoretical Domains Framework were used to pinpoint the constructs and behaviour change techniques most suited to address the barriers in order to achieve practice changes.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Primary health care units of the Dão Lafões Grouping of Primary Health Care Centres (family physicians/general practitioners, family medicine residents, practice nurses and receptionists)

Exclusion Criteria:

* Primary health care units with four or less general practitioners
* Primary health care units that have a specific alcohol program already implemented

Primary outcomes:
measure: Alcohol screening rate
timeFrame: 12 months
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Improvement of general practitioners attitudes toward at-risk drinkers
timeFrame: 12 months
measure: Improvement in knowledge related to alcohol screening and brief intervention
timeFrame: 12 months
measure: Improvement in barriers for implementing alcohol screening and brief intervention
timeFrame: 12 months
measure: Utility of materials used in the trial
timeFrame: Through study completion, an average of 12 months
measure: Brief intervention rate
timeFrame: 12 months
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Viseu
country: Portugal
facility: Dão Lafões Grouping of Primary Health Care Centres
state: Dão Lafões
Study officials:
affiliation: Dão Lafões Grouping of Primary Health Care Centres
name: Frederico M Rosário, MD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References:
citation: Rosario F, Vasiljevic M, Pas L, Fitzgerald N, Ribeiro C. Implementing alcohol screening and brief interventions in primary health care: study protocol for a pilot cluster randomized controlled trial. Fam Pract. 2019 Mar 20;36(2):199-205. doi: 10.1093/fampra/cmy062.