A Randomized Controlled Trial of Brief Intervention by Interactive Voice Response

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Digital Health Interventions
• Substance Use Disorders

Background:

• Unhealthy alcohol consumption is a significant public health concern.
• Primary care settings offer opportunities for early intervention.
• Automated interventions like Interactive Voice Response (IVR) are being explored to increase accessibility.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of an IVR-based brief intervention (BI) for reducing alcohol consumption in primary care patients.
• To assess patient engagement and acceptance of the IVR-BI.
• To identify patient subgroups that may benefit from such interventions.

Main Methods:

• A randomized controlled trial involving 1855 primary care patients with unhealthy drinking.
• Patients were assigned to either an IVR-BI group or a control group (No IVR-BI).
• Alcohol consumption was measured using the Timeline Followback at baseline, 3, and 6 months.

Main Results:

• The IVR-BI intervention was highly accepted, with 95% completion and 62% willingness to change drinking behavior.
• Both groups showed significant reductions in alcohol consumption over 6 months, with no significant difference between the IVR-BI and control groups.
• Participants with alcohol use disorder (AUD) demonstrated significant decreases in drinking, irrespective of the intervention group, while those without AUD showed no significant changes.

Conclusions:

• The IVR-BI, despite high patient engagement, did not prove superior to standard care or a control condition in reducing alcohol consumption over 6 months.
• The study highlights the need for further research into novel eHealth strategies for alcohol reduction, potentially exploring the impact of assessment alone.
• The successful implementation protocol and high engagement rates offer valuable insights for future digital health intervention trials.