Harmful Drinking, Hazardous Drinking
Conditions
Keywords
alcohol, online intervention, hazardous drinking, harmful drinking, early intervention, behavior change intervention
Brief summary
The purpose of this study is to test - in a workplace setting - if an online multi-session alcohol intervention improves treatment effect over and above a single session screening with feedback. Hypothesis: automated online multi-session follow-up improves the effect on alcohol consumption over and above a single session screening
Detailed description
Setting: Online study among Norwegian employees. Participants: At-risk drinkers among employees in a select group of norwegian workplaces is recruited through an e-mail to their job e-mail account, and advertisements on the intranet of their organization. Design: Randomized controlled trial (RCT). Subjects in both conditions receives a single session screening procedure including individualized normative feedback. The control group receives an online booklet about the effects of alcohol. The treatment group receives the multi session follow up program Balance.
Interventions
BEHAVIORALOnline screening and feedback
An online single session screening procedure including individualized normative feedback.
BEHAVIORALOnline booklet.
An online booklet that covers general information about alcohol, its effect on the brain and the body, potential risks and harms of drinking, and an account of the threshold values of sensible drinking
BEHAVIORALOnline multi session follow-up
An online multi session follow-up program (i.e., Balance). The central concept of Balance is to support continued self-regulation throughout the behavior change process. There are four key aspects of the program, the first is focus on goal setting and tracking of alcohol consumption on a day-to-day basis. The second on relapse prevention - for example, when clients report drinking more than their target, they receive individualized content aimed at preventing a full blown relapse. The third is emotion regulation, where content and assignments from positive psychology and from cognitive behavioral therapy are used. Finally, intervention covers alcohol education (i.e. the same topics as in the booklet provided to the control group).
Sponsors
The Research Council of Norway
University of Oslo
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
PREVENTION
Masking
NONE
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
* hazardous or harmful drinking (i.e., a FAST-score of 3 or more)
Exclusion criteria
* underage (\<18) * not provided a valid e-mail address * not provided a valid (Norwegian) mobile phone number
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| The number of standard alcohol units consumed during the previous seven days | Measured six months after enrollment/baseline | Subjects are asked to indicate (through online questionnaires) how many standard alcohol units they consumed on each of the previous seven days, on a scale from zero to ten. Then a sum-score for weekly consumption is calculated, ranging from zero to 70. |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Sick leave during last week | Assessed at six months post baseline | Sick leave was assessed with a yes or no response for each of the past seven days, and then accumulated, resulting in a score of zero to seven. Participants were instructed to report any sick leave regardless of reason. |
| Negative consequences of alcohol consumption | Assessed at six months post baseline | Perceived negative consequences of own alcohol consumption, during the seven previous days, was assessed by a 13 item index, resulting in a sum score with a theoretical range from zero to 13. The items comprised: headache, nausea, anxiety, worn out, depressed, breaking a plan, breaking a date, sick leave, memory problems, bad conscience, conflict, destroyed something and injuries. |
Countries
Norway
Outcome results
None listed