Coordinated Care for Alcohol Problems

Summary

Parallel group individually randomised controlled trial (RCT) with stratified (by severity of drinking problem) randomisation into intervention and control arms. Aim is to test the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of Coordinated Care for Alcohol Problems (CCAP) for the whole spectrum of drinking problems in primary care in Goa, India. Primary outcome is the drinking outcome of percentage days abstinent (PDA) at three months post randomisation. Secondary outcomes include drinking outcomes (PDA at six- and 12- months post-randomisation; percentage days heavy drinking (PDHD), intensity of drinking and remission) and drinking related outcomes (e.g., injuries, violence) at three-, six- and 12- months post- randomisation. Participants will include consenting adult (\>18 years) men with drinking problems attending Primary Healthcare Centres (PHCs) and Community Healthcare Centres (CHCs) in Goa and have drinking problems defined as scoring \>8 on the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT). CCAP is a multi-component evidence-informed complex intervention package for coordinating treatment for all levels of problem drinking (hazardous, harmful, dependent). For hazardous drinking, it includes Mobile based Brief Intervention Treatment (M-BIT), which is a mobile-messaging brief intervention delivered via WhatsApp over eight weeks using multimedia content including contextually relevant messages, images and videos. For harmful drinking, it includes Counselling for Alcohol Problems Plus (CAP+) which is Counselling for Alcohol Problems (CAP), an evidence-based brief psychological treatment, integrated with strategies to enhance treatment engagement (entry into and completion). For dependent drinking, it includes Community Orientated Treatment for Alcohol Dependence (CONTAD) which is supervised home-detoxification over a week followed by a psychological treatment to prevent relapse, both integrated with treatment engagement strategies. CAP+ and CONTAD will be delivered in the community by non-specialist health workers (NSHW).

Conditions

• Alcohol Use Disorder

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

CCAP

Hazardous drinking: The content of the intervention includes seven themes: health education, alcohol reduction, drinking and risk management, drinking alternatives, situational content, urge management, and relapse prevention. Participants will receive texts and video-based messages building their awareness about drinking and associated harms. Harmful drinking: CAP has three phases which are delivered in one to four sessions over six to eight weeks by NSHWs. Each session lasts between 30 to 45 minutes. The content is delivered through motivational interviewing with additional behavioural and cognitive components. CAP+ will include treatment engagement strategies integrated into CAP. Dependent drinking: Home detoxification will be supervised by a doctor and monitored by the NSHW and a designated carer (e.g. spouse) for the patient at their home-setting. The counselling sessions are delivered by NSHWs, over 4-8 weeks and lasting 30-60 minutes each.

BEHAVIORAL

Enhanced usual care

Hazardous drinking: An information sheet/brochure with information on alcohol consumption, associated risks, and tips to manage and reduce drinking. Harmful drinking: CAP psychological brief treatment delivered by trained NSHWs (described above in detail). Dependent drinking: Hospital-based detoxification delivered in secondary or tertiary care.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

  collaborator OTHER

• Sangath

  lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

DOUBLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Sex

MALE

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2026-06-01

Primary Completion

2027-03-31

Completion

2027-12-31