MedPath

Therapeutic Education for Harm Reduction in People With Alcohol Use Disorder

Completed
Conditions
Alcohol Use Disorder
Interventions
Behavioral: "Choizitaconso" - therapeutic patient education programme
Registration Number
NCT03954054
Lead Sponsor
Institut National de la Santé Et de la Recherche Médicale, France
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.

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status
COMPLETED
Sex
All
Target Recruitment
110
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

Study & Design

Study Type
OBSERVATIONAL
Study Design
Not specified
Arm && Interventions
GroupInterventionDescription
Intervention group (current therapeutic education participants)"Choizitaconso" - therapeutic patient education programmeA face-to-face interview and a telephone interview at treatment initiation (M0) and 6 months after programme initiation (M6) Administration of socio-economic questionnaires and a Brief Evaluation of Alcohol-Related Neuropsychological Impairment (BEARNI) before, and 6 months after inclusion in the therapeutic education programme.
Former therapeutic education participants"Choizitaconso" - therapeutic patient education programmeSemi-structured interviews with people who already completed the TPE programme
Primary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
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 Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
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

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

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)

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)

Anxiety and depressive symptoms (HAD)Compared after 6 months between the intervention- and the control group.

HAD anxiety and depressive symptoms scale

Alcohol-Related Neuropsychological Impairments (BEARNI)Compared after 6 months in the intervention group

The Brief Evaluation of Alcohol-Related Neuropsychological Impairment (BEARNI) test is a clinical screening tool, assessing verbal episodic memory, visuospatial abilities, working memory, executive functioning

Trial Locations

Locations (3)

ANPAA 04

🇫🇷

Digne-les-Bains, France

Clinique Saint Barnabé

🇫🇷

Marseille, France

CSAPA Convergence

🇫🇷

Avignon, France

© Copyright 2025. All Rights Reserved by MedPath