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Therapeutic Education for Harm Reduction in People With Alcohol Use Disorder

Evaluation of a Therapeutic Education Programme for Harm Reduction in People With Alcohol Use Disorder

Status
Completed
Phases
Unknown
Study type
Observational
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT03954054
Acronym
ETHER
Enrollment
110
Registered
2019-05-17
Start date
2019-10-28
Completion date
2021-07-31
Last updated
2025-11-18

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Alcohol Use Disorder

Keywords

alcohol, substance use, patient education, psychosocial skills, controlled drinking, harm reduction, abstinence, quality of life

Brief summary

Alcohol is the most harmful psychoactive substance in terms of overall damage. Although abstinence remains the objective of most pharmacological and non-pharmacological approaches addressing alcohol use disorder (AUD), new therapeutic objectives of reduced alcohol intake and controlled-drinking have emerged. ETHER (Education THEérapeutique pour la Réduction des dommages en alcoologie or therapeutic education for the reduction of alcohol-related harms) is an ongoing, multicentre, community-based mixed-methods study, which aims to evaluate the innovative therapeutic patient education (TPE) programme named Choizitaconso. This programme teaches psychosocial skills to people with alcohol use disorder (PWAUD), to help them (re)establish controlled drinking and reduce harms. The evaluation of the programme will rely on a sequential explanatory design, where the qualitative study (16 semi-structured interviews) will assist in explaining and interpreting the findings of the controlled before-and-after quantitative study.

Detailed description

ETHER's quantitative component is a 6-month controlled study which evaluates the effectiveness of Choizitaconso by comparing 30 PWAUD following the programme with a control group of 60 PWAUD not following it. All 90 PWAUD are individually interviewed using standardized face-to-face and phone-based interviews. 34 questions on alcohol-related harms were identified in the international literature and approved by the PWAUD community. The sum of these harms, considered as a measure of the individual burden related to alcohol use, will be used as principal outcome. Secondary outcomes are quantity and frequency of alcohol consumption, craving for alcohol, coping strategies, Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQL), self-confidence to resist drinking, anticipated and internalized stigma, treatment self-regulation, anxiety and depressive symptoms, alcohol-related neuropsychological impairments and capabilities (i.e., a measure of wellbeing for the general adult population, used in economic evaluations). Primary and secondary outcomes will be collected in face-to-face and phone-based interviews at enrolment and 6 months after enrolment. We will use a binomial test and linear regression models to assess the impact of the TPE programme on changes in the principal and secondary outcomes, while adjusting for other correlates and confounders. The study's qualitative component comprises semi-structured interviews of 16 PWAUD who completed the TPE programme at least 6 months before the interview. Qualitative interviews will be analysed using thematic analysis.

Interventions

BEHAVIORALChoizitaconso - therapeutic patient education programme

Choizitaconso is a therapeutic patient education programme that teaches psychosocial skills to people with alcohol use disorder (PWAUD), to help them (re)establish controlled drinking and reduce harms. It lasts for 10 weeks for each participant and consists of the following 5 modules, including one optional module focusing on the family environment: 1. Understand the mechanisms that trigger and/or maintain alcohol-related difficulties 2. Plan and evaluate personalized controlled drinking strategies 3. Understand and identify external and internal influences (e.g., thoughts and emotions), identify and manage risk situations 4. Identify alcohol effects and alcohol-related expectations (by developing self-observation skills) 5. Family environment: learning how to evaluate and take care of oneself (e.g., how to express feelings) Each module consists of 2 to 4 collective workshops that each last 120 minutes and involve 5 to 10 persons.

Sponsors

Regional Agency for Health PACA
CollaboratorOTHER
SESSTIM UMR1252 (Aix-Marseille Univ, INSERM, IRD)
CollaboratorUNKNOWN
Institut National de la Santé Et de la Recherche Médicale, France
Lead SponsorOTHER_GOV

Study design

Observational model
OTHER
Time perspective
PROSPECTIVE

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

* at least 18 years old * fluent in French speaker * able to provide written, informed consent * reachable by phone * followed-up for Alcohol Use Disorder

Exclusion criteria

* cocaine or opiate dependence * being a legally-protected adult (tutorship, curatorship) * being pregnant * participation in another study during the duration of follow-up (6 months) * having severe cognitive impairment which could conflict with successful group work

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Community-validated alcohol-related harmsCompared after 6 months between the intervention- and the control group.We selected as principal outcome the number of experienced alcohol-related harms (ranging between 0 and 34) as a measure of the individual alcohol-related burden. 34 questions on alcohol-related harms (physical, social and behavioural consequences) were identified by and with the community of PWAUD during several working sessions. Alcohol-related harms assessment is scheduled at enrolment (i.e., before the TPE programme initiation for the intervention group) and 6 months later.

Secondary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Average alcohol consumption (AUDIT-C)Compared after 6 months between the intervention- and the control group.Frequency and quantity of alcohol use
CravingCompared after 6 months between the intervention- and the control group.Self-reported control over alcohol consumption, and feelings related to alcohol (5 questions)
StigmaCompared after 6 months between the intervention- and the control group.11 questions on anticipated and internalized stigma drawn from the Substance Use Stigma Mechanism Scale (SU-SMS)
Anxiety and depressive symptoms (HAD)Compared after 6 months between the intervention- and the control group.HAD anxiety and depressive symptoms scale
Health-related Quality of life (SF-12v2 health survey)Compared after 6 months between the intervention- and the control group.A validated measure of physical and mental
Coping strategies (Brief COPE)Compared after 6 months between the intervention- and the control group.28 questions on cognitive and behavioural efforts to cope with stress in everyday life (trait coping)
Capability (ICECAP-A questionnaire)Compared after 6 months between the intervention- and the control group.A measure of wellbeing for the general adult population, used in economic evaluations. 5 questions on attachment, stability, achievement, enjoyment and autonomy
Treatment self-regulationCompared after 6 months between the intervention- and the control group.Reasons for entering treatment or engaging in healthy behaviour Adaptation of the Treatment Questionnaire Concerning Diabetes including 2 subscales: autonomous regulation and controlled regulation
Self-confidence to resist drinking (Brief Situational Confidence Questionnaire)Compared after 6 months between the intervention- and the control group.Confidence to resist (or control) drinking in high-risk situations
Alcohol-Related Neuropsychological Impairments (BEARNI)Compared after 6 months in the intervention groupThe Brief Evaluation of Alcohol-Related Neuropsychological Impairment (BEARNI) test is a clinical screening tool, assessing verbal episodic memory, visuospatial abilities, working memory, executive functioning

Countries

France

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 19, 2026