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Volume 10 Supplement 2

INEBRIA 12th Congress,

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A randomized controlled non-inferiority trial of primary care-based facilitated access to an alcohol reduction website (EFAR-FVG): preliminary results

Background

The effectiveness of brief interventions for risky drinkers by GPs is well documented.[1] However, implementation levels remain low. Facilitated access to an alcohol reduction website offers an alternative to standard face-to-face intervention, but it is unclear whether it is as effective.[2] This study evaluates whether online brief intervention, through GP facilitated access to an alcohol reduction website for risky drinkers, is not inferior to the face-to-face brief intervention conducted by GPs.

Material and methods

In a northern Italy region participating GPs actively encouraged all patients age 18 attending their practice, to access an online screening website based on AUDIT-C.[3] Those screening positive underwent a baseline assessment with the AUDIT-10[4] and EQ-5D[5] questionnaires and subsequently, were randomly assigned to receive either online counselling on the alcohol reduction website (intervention) or face-to-face intervention based on the brief motivational interview[6] by their GP (control). Follow-up took place at 3 and 12 months and the outcome was calculated on the basis of the proportion of risky drinkers in each group according to the AUDIT-10.

Results

More than 50% (n= 3974) of the patients who received facilitated access logged-on to the website and completed the AUDIT-C. Just under 20% (n = 718) screened positive and 94% (n= 674) of them completed the baseline questionnaires and were randomized. Of the 310 patients randomized to the experimental Internet intervention, 90% (n = 278) logged-on to the site. Of the 364 patients of the control group, 72% (263) were seen by their GP. A follow-up rate of 94% was achieved at 3 months.

Conclusions

The offer of GP facilitated access to an alcohol reduction website appears to be an effective way of identifying risky drinkers and enabling them to receive brief intervention.

References

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Acknowledgements

This work is jointly supported by the Italian Ministry of Health and by the regional school for the training in Primary Care of the Region Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy.

(Grant number: D25E12002900003). On behalf of the EFAR Study Group.

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Correspondence to Pierluigi Struzzo.

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This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.

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Struzzo, P., Vedova, R.D., Ferrante, D. et al. A randomized controlled non-inferiority trial of primary care-based facilitated access to an alcohol reduction website (EFAR-FVG): preliminary results. Addict Sci Clin Pract 10 (Suppl 2), O29 (2015). https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.1186/1940-0640-10-S2-O29

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  • DOI: https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.1186/1940-0640-10-S2-O29

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