Drug Abuse
Conditions
Keywords
Auricular Acupressure, Nursing Students
Brief summary
Drug abuse is a serious public health issue. Despite the serious consequences of drug abuse, there are around 2000 new cases reported by drug abusers each year. There is growing evidence of the use of auricular acupressure (AA), a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) treatment modality, in reducing withdrawal symptoms among drug abusers. This study aims to investigate the feasibility and effectiveness of training nursing students to deliver brief education on AA on drug abusers.
Detailed description
A 2-arm feasibility cluster RCT will be conducted in the 80 drug abusers from 7 substance abuse clinics in Hong Kong Hospital Authority following the CONSORT statement. The intervention group will receive AA intervention individually from trained nursing students. The control group will individually receive a 5-minute seminar delivered by a research assistant.
Interventions
OTHERAA group
Participants will individually receive a 5-minute AA education delivered verbally at his/her respective clinic by a trained nursing student interventionist in addition to the usual scheduled follow-ups and activities at clinics.
OTHERControl group
To mimic the time and attention spent, the control group will individually receive a 5-minute seminar delivered by an RA.
Sponsors
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
SINGLE (Subject)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
* Aged 18 or above * Have reported to abuse drugs within the past 30 days * Can communicate in Cantonese and read Chinese
Exclusion criteria
* Unstable mental conditions that are not suitable for the intervention * Receiving acupuncture or acupressure treatment currently or in the previous 30 days
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Adverse events | at the 6-month follow-up | defined as unfavorable and unintended events that are not present at baseline, or appear to have worsened during the study. |
| Attendance rate | at the 6-month follow-up | calculated by dividing the number of abusers who complete the intervention by those who are randomized. |
| Retention rate | at the 6-month follow-up | : calculated by dividing the number of abusers who remain in the study by those who are randomized. Retention rates for the intervention and control groups will be calculated at each follow-up. |
| Adherence to intervention protocol | at the 6-month follow-up | calculated by dividing the number of abusers who follow the intervention protocol by those who are randomized. |
| Complete rate | at the 6-month follow-up | calculated by dividing the number of abusers who returned questionnaires by the number of questionnaires distributed. This will be calculated by groups at baseline and each follow-up. |
| Missing data | at the 6-month follow-up | calculated as the percentage of missing values in the dataset. Unknown or blank values will be considered missing values. |
| Screening rate | at the 6-month follow-up | calculated as the number of abusers screened at participated clinics divided by number of abusers at participated clinics during the recruitment period. |
| Eligibility rate | at the 6-month follow-up | calculated by dividing the number of abusers who are eligible by the number who are screened. |
| Consent rate | at the 6-month follow-up | calculated by dividing the number of abusers who consent to join the study by the number who are eligible. |
| Randomization rate | at the 6-month follow-up | calculated by dividing the number of abusers who are randomized into intervention and control groups by those who provide consent. |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Abstinence with urine testing | at the 6-month follow-up | . Those who report no drug abuse within the past 30 days at the 6-month follow-up will be further invited for urine testing. |
| Self-reported levels of craving | at the 6-month follow-up | The Chinese version of the 3-item craving scale will be used to measure abusers' self-reported levels of craving. |
| Anxiety | at the 6-month follow-up | Generalized anxiety disorder-7 will be used to measure the severity of self-reported anxiety. |
| Quality of life measures by short-Form Six-Dimension | at the 6-month follow-up | Short-Form Six-Dimension will be used to assess abusers' quality of life.It contains six dimensions of health. The Chinese version is well validated in Hong Kong. |
| Self-reported abstinence | at the 6-month follow-up | Self-reported drug abstinence at last 30 days. |
Countries
Hong Kong
Contacts
Primary ContactKa Wai Katherine Lam
Backup ContactKa Yan Ho
Outcome results
None listed