Substance-use Focused Screening and Brief Intervention as a Complement to Internet-based Psychiatric Treatment for Depression, Panic Disorder or Social Phobia: A Randomized Controlled Trial

This study evaluated the efficacy of eScreen for internet psychiatry patients treated for major depressive disorder, panic anxiety and social phobia. The eScreen brief Internet intervention for problematic alcohol and drug use offers self-screening, in-depth self-reporting, personalized feedback and treatment recommendations as well as an electronic diary. Progress over time is shown in diagrams detailing consumption levels. The design was a two-armed randomized controlled design, measuring outcomes in terms of changes in problematic alcohol use up to one year after study recruitment. Participants with problematic alcohol use (AUDIT >7 for men and >5 for women) and/or problematic drug use (DUDIT > 1 for both men and women) were randomized into one of two groups: T1, eScreen referral or Control group. Outcomes on alcohol and drug use as well as health-related symptoms are assessed after 3, 6 and 12 months.

The hypothesis was that the group receiving the eScreen intervention would reduce their alcohol/drug use to a larger extent than the control group at follow-up compared to the baseline level. The results have not yet been analyzed due to technical issues. However, qualitative interviews have been conducted with participants and our intention is to publish the qualitative results in tandem with the quantitative results available.