No improvement in AUDIT-C screening and brief intervention rates among wait-list controls following support of Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services: Evidence from a cluster randomised trial
Publication Details
Conigrave, J.,
Lee, K.,
Dobbins, T.,
Wilson, S.,
Padarian, J.,
Ivers, R.,
Morley, K.,
Haber, P.,
Vnuk, J.,
Marshall, K.,
&
Conigrave, K.
(2024).
No improvement in AUDIT-C screening and brief intervention rates among wait-list controls following support of Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services: Evidence from a cluster randomised trial.
BMC Health Services Research, 24.
Abstract
Background
While Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians are less likely to drink any alcohol than other Australians, those who drink are more likely to experience adverse alcohol-related health consequences. In a previous study, providing Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services (ACCHSs) with training and support increased the odds of clients receiving AUDIT-C alcohol screening. A follow-up study found that these results were maintained for at least two years, but there was large variability in the effectiveness of the intervention between services. In this study, we use services that previously received support as a comparison group to test whether training and support can improve alcohol screening and brief intervention rates among wait-list control ACCHSs.
Methods
Design: Cluster randomised trial using routinely collected health data. Setting: Australia. Cases: Twenty-two ACCHSs that see at least 1000 clients a year and use Communicare as their practice management software. Intervention and comparator: After initiating support, we compare changes in screening and brief intervention between wait-list control services and services that had previously received support. Measurement: Records of AUDIT-C screening and brief intervention activity in routinely collected data.
Results
During the reference period we observed 357,257 instances where one of 74,568 clients attended services at least once during a two-monthly data extraction period. Following the start of support, the odds of screening (ORβ=β0.94 [95% CI 0.67, 1.32], pβ=β0.74, BF10" role="presentation" style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; display: inline-block; line-height: normal; word-spacing: normal; overflow-wrap: normal; text-wrap: nowrap; float: none; direction: ltr; max-width: none; max-height: none; min-width: 0px; min-height: 0px; border: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;">π΅πΉ10β" role="presentation" style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; display: inline-block; line-height: normal; word-spacing: normal; overflow-wrap: normal; text-wrap: nowrap; float: none; direction: ltr; max-width: none; max-height: none; min-width: 0px; min-height: 0px; border: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;">β 0.002) and brief intervention (OR = 1.43 [95% CI 0.69, 2.95], p = 0.34, BF10" role="presentation" style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; display: inline-block; line-height: normal; word-spacing: normal; overflow-wrap: normal; text-wrap: nowrap; float: none; direction: ltr; max-width: none; max-height: none; min-width: 0px; min-height: 0px; border: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;">π΅πΉ10β" role="presentation" style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; display: inline-block; line-height: normal; word-spacing: normal; overflow-wrap: normal; text-wrap: nowrap; float: none; direction: ltr; max-width: none; max-height: none; min-width: 0px; min-height: 0px; border: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;">β 0.002) did not improve for the wait-list control group, relative to comparison services.
Conclusions
We did not replicate the finding that support and training improves AUDIT-C screening rates with wait-list control data. The benefits of support are likely context dependent. Coincidental policy changes may have sensitised services to the effects of support in the earlier phase of the study. Then the COVID-19 pandemic may have made services less open to change in this latest phase. Future efforts could include practice software prompts to alcohol screening and brief intervention, which are less reliant on individual staff time or resources.
Trial registration
Retrospectively registered on 2018-11-21: ACTRN12618001892202.
Keywords
s Implementation research, Remote support, Alcohol screening, AUDIT-C, Training, Aboriginal Australians
Link to Publisher Version (URL)
