CClinicalTrials.gg
CompletedNCT02082990EFAR-SpainUpdated Aug 17, 2018

Primary Care-based Facilitated Access to a Web Based Brief Intervention to Reduce Alcohol Consumption

An interventional study of Face-to-Face Brief Intervention and Online Brief Intervention in Hazardous Drinking, sponsored by Hospital Clinic of Barcelona. Completed at 1 site in Spain. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2018-08-17.

Sponsored by Hospital Clinic of Barcelona · Not applicable, Interventional, and Treatment

Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
320
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
18 Years and older
Sex
All
01

Study summary

Brief Interventions (BIs) for risky drinkers are an effective tool in primary care. Lack of time in daily practice has been identified as a barrier for the wide implementation of BI. There is growing evidence that e-health tools such as web based BIs can be an efficient alternative to standard face-to-face BIs and save time to general practitioners (GP).

The main aim of this study is to test non-inferiority of a web based BI for risky drinkers against a traditional face to face BI delivered by a general practitioner. We have designed a randomised controlled non-inferiority trial comparing both interventions, to be performed in primary care health centres in Catalonia, Spain.

Adults attending in primary care centres and willing to participate, will be invited to fill the short Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT-C) in a specific website. Those screening positive and who accept to share the baseline data with their GP will be invited to an online assessment of their drinking and randomized to a standard BI with their GP or to the online BI.

Follow-up assessment will be conducted online at months 3 and 12, using the full Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT) and the quality of life questionnaire (D5-EQD5). The main outcome will be the proportion of risky drinkers according to the AUDIT. Assuming a 30% reduction in the proportion of risky drinkers in the control group (classroom), allowing for an overall attrition of 10% of patients in the trial and non-inferiority assessed against a specified margin of 10%, it is estimated that 500 patients would be required in each group to give the test a 90% power (1-β) to reject the null hypothesis.

Read the detailed description

Trial design: A randomised non-inferiority controlled trial in primary care comparing facilitated access to a website for risky drinkers against a standard face-to-face BI. With the exception of the non-experimental intervention, all components of the study will be administered online to patients. Patients will be actively encouraged by their PHCP to access the application, which is available on the website of the programme 'Alcohol y Salud' (http:// www.alcoholysalud.cat), and will be provided with a unique registration code. The trial website is a Spanish adaptation of the English version of http://www.DownYourDrink.org.uk (DYD) developed in the UK, which includes modules for all the key trial components including screening, consent, assessment, randomisation and follow-up. It also incorporates the alcohol reduction website for the patients in the experimental group. The site has been adapted from the http://www.DownYourDrink.org.uk website developed for the DYD-RCT (randomised controlled trial).14 Details of DYD and the psychological theory that underpinned its development have been reported elsewhere. 21 Country-specific information such as recommended guidelines for alcohol intake, definitions of standard drinks and alcohol-related laws will be included. The website also incorporates a menu-driven facility to enable PHCP to customise automated messages to patients, for example, by adding photographs and pre-recorded messages. The personalised messages will appear to each patient using the log-in code provided by that practitioner.

Practitioner recruitment, training and incentives:

Recruitment will be based on the XaROH network. A 3 h seminar on new technologies, and EI and BI, introducing the trial, will be offered to all members of the XaROH, and those attending will be invited to sign up for the trial. In addition, several advertisements will be posted on the 'Beveu Menys' platform offering participation in the trial. In selecting practices, preference will be given to those with at least 5000 registered patients. Those practices that are selected as participants will be required to undergo a 1-day training programme. The training has four steps: (1) introduction to trial; (2) familiarisation with website; (3) update about EI and BI; and (4) practice in EI and BI (role-playing). Finally, participants will be encouraged to use the website and to tailor-make patient messages. Participating PHCPs will receive a financial incentive of €20 per patient recruited to the trial.

02

Conditions studied

  • Hazardous Drinking

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Keywords

  • Alcohol-related disorders
  • Alcohol Drinking
  • e-health
  • Alcohol Use Disorder Test
  • Quality of Life
03

In context

Alcohol Drinking

925 studies on the registry are indexed under Alcohol Drinking; 172 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 320 is above the median of 108 across 802 interventional studies indexed under Alcohol Drinking.

Browse Alcohol Drinking studies →

Lead sponsor

Hospital Clinic of Barcelona is the lead sponsor of 319 studies on the registry; 55 are open to participants now.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years and older
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

  • Patients aged 18 years old or over attended in primary care during the study period
  • AUDIT-C 4 or above for women and 5 or above for men (in online screening)

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Severe psychiatric disorders
  • Serious visual impairment
  • Terminal illness
  • To have inadequate command of the Spanish or Catalan language
  • AUDIT ≥ 18 in baseline assessment.

Excluded patients will be referred to GPs to consider other interventions.

05

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
320 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Active comparator
    Face-to-Face Brief Intervention Group

    One face-to-face Brief Intervention which is provided by General Practitioner or Nurse

    Behavioral: Face-to-Face Brief Intervention

  • Experimental
    Online Brief Intervention Group

    Primary care-based facilitated access to an alcohol reduction website (Brief Intervention)

    Behavioral: Online Brief Intervention

Interventions

  • BehavioralFace-to-Face Brief Intervention

    One face-to-face Brief Intervention which is provided by General Practitioner or Nurse

  • BehavioralOnline Brief Intervention

    Primary care-based facilitated access to an alcohol reduction website (Brief Intervention)

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Proportion of risky drinkers according to the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT)

    % of patients with \> 7 scoring in AUDIT (month 3)

    Time frame: At month 3 after the randomisation

Secondary outcomes

  1. Proportion of risky drinkers according to the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT)

    % of patients with \> 7 scoring in AUDIT (month 12)

    Time frame: at month 12 after the randomisation

  2. Quality of life EQ-5D-3L questionnaire

    Increasing of QoL according to EQ5D53L

    Time frame: at month 3 and 12 after the randomisation

Other outcomes

  1. Implementation

    Proportion of Brief Interventions carried out among the subjects who are positively screened

    Time frame: at month 3 after the randomisation

07

Study locations

1 site
  • Primary Care Centres of Institut Català de la Salut
    Multiple Locations, Catalonia, Spain
08

References and documents

Publications

  • Lopez-Pelayo H, Wallace P, Segura L, Miquel L, Diaz E, Teixido L, Baena B, Struzzo P, Palacio-Vieira J, Casajuana C, Colom J, Gual A. A randomised controlled non-inferiority trial of primary care-based facilitated access to an alcohol reduction website (EFAR Spain): the study protocol. BMJ Open. 2014 Dec 31;4(12):e007130. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2014-007130. PubMed 25552616 ↗
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Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Aug 17, 2018, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
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Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT02082990
Lead sponsor
Hospital Clinic of Barcelona
Collaborators
August Pi Sunyer Biomedical Research Institute, Fundacion Clinic per a la Recerca Biomédica, Program on Substance Abuse, Public Health Agency, Government of Catalonia, University College, London, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, European Union
Responsible party
Antoni Gual (Senior Consultor, Institut d'Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer) — Principal investigator
First posted
Mar 11, 2014
Start date
Dec 2014
Primary completion
Dec 31, 2017
Completion
Dec 31, 2017
Last update
Aug 17, 2018

Study contacts

Antoni Gual, MD. PhD
principal investigator · Institut d'Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

Not currently enrolling

This study is completed, as verified in Aug 2018. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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