Network Support for Alcohol Treatment 2

UConn Health193 enrolled

Overview

The Network Support project is part of an ongoing effort to improve treatment for alcohol dependent patients. The Network Support Project is designed to help patients change their social network from one that reinforces drinking behavior to one that reinforces sobriety. 160 patients will be assigned to one of two treatments. Each of the treatments will last 12 weeks. The first is a Network Support (NS) treatment designed to help patients develop new acquaintances and social networks. It is expected that alcohol dependent patients will benefit from increasing their contact with non-drinking people. This NS condition will be compared to a packaged CBT program for alcoholics (PCBT) that is designed to teach a number of skills to help people stop drinking, but does not address social networks per se. In order to better understand what is happening to the investigators patients, the investigators will be using daily computerized telephone calls to ask about people's experiences. This will be done both before and after treatment. Patients will also be asked to participate in follow-up interviews every 3 months for 2 years following the end of treatment.

Study Type

INTERVENTIONAL

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

NONE

Enrollment

193

Conditions

Alcohol Consumption

Interventions

Eligibility

Sex: ALLMin age: 18 YearsMax age: 85 Years

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: * 18 yo * meets Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) criteria for alcohol dependence Exclusion Criteria: * acute medical or psychiatric problems that require inpatient treatment (e.g., acute psychosis, or suicide/homicide risk) * reading ability below the fifth grade level * lack of reliable transportation to the treatment site, or excessive commuting distance * inability to understand English

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Proportion Days Abstinent (PDA)

PDA is based on data collected in each 90-day timeline follow-back assessment of daily drinking. PDA is calculated as the number of days out of 90 in which the patient reported 0 drinks.

Time frame: Every 3 months out to 2 years

Secondary Outcomes

Social Network Change

Network Support for Abstinence. Minimum score=0; Maximum score =1. Higher scores indicate greater support for abstinence.

Time frame: assessed every 6 months out to 2 years, mean change over 2 years reported