Randomized controlled trial of an internet-based brief intervention targeting alcohol use: Primary and secondary prevention for young men in a general population sample

Switzerland, 2012 - 2013

Bertholet, Nicolas, Cunningham, John A., Faouzi, Mohamed, Gaume, Jacques, Gmel, Gerhard, Burnand, Bernard, Daeppen, Jean-Bernard

Identification

Survey ID Number

CHE-UES-RCTALCOHOL-2012-V1.2

Title

Randomized controlled trial of an internet-based brief intervention targeting alcohol use: Primary and secondary prevention for young men in a general population sample

Country

Name	Country code
Switzerland	CH

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the efficacy of a proactive electronic screening and brief intervention (internet-based brief intervention) providing personalized feedback and information on alcohol use and its consequences among young men in the general population. It consists of two studies: a secondary prevention study (for those with unhealthy alcohol use, defined as reporting >14 drinks per week OR at least one episode of binge drinking (6 or more drinks per occasion) per month OR an Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test score >8) and a primary prevention study (for those without unhealthy alcohol use).
It is hypothesized that the internet-based brief intervention will decrease later alcohol use and related consequences among individuals with unhealthy alcohol use (secondary prevention study) and will prevent the increase of alcohol use among individuals without unhealthy alcohol use (primary prevention study).
The study is a parallel-group randomized controlled trial: a total of 1633 participants were included. 737 participated in the secondary prevention study and 896 in the primary prevention study. In both studies, participants were randomly assigned to receive electronic personalized feedback or not and followed at 1 month and at 6 months to evaluate their alcohol use. The primary outcomes were weekly alcohol consumption and prevalence of monthly risky single occasion drinking (or "binge"). Participants were Swiss young men from a general population sample.
The trial was registered at current controlled trials: ISRCTN55991918

Unit of Analysis

Individuals

Version

Version Description

2015.1

Scope

Notes

Young Swiss men consuming alcohol

Keywords

Keyword	Vocabulary
Randomized controlled trial	Author keywords
Alcohol	Author keywords
Brief intervention	Author keywords
General population	Author keywords
Internet	Author keywords
Young men	Author keywords
Prevention	Author keywords

Coverage

Geographic Coverage

Switzerland

Universe

Swiss young men (around 21)

Producers and sponsors

Primary investigators

Name	Affiliation
Bertholet, Nicolas	Alcohol Treatment Center, Department of Community Medicine and Health, Lausanne University Hospital, Lausanne, Switzerland
Cunningham, John A.	Center for Mental Health Research, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia and Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Canada
Faouzi, Mohamed	Alcohol Treatment Center, Department of Community Medicine and Health, Lausanne University Hospital, Lausanne, Switzerland
Gaume, Jacques	Alcohol Treatment Center, Department of Community Medicine and Health, Lausanne University Hospital, Lausanne, Switzerland
Gmel, Gerhard	Alcohol Treatment Center, Department of Community Medicine and Health, Lausanne University Hospital, Lausanne, Switzerland
Burnand, Bernard	Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine, Lausanne University Hospital, Lausanne, Switzerland
Daeppen, Jean-Bernard	Alcohol Treatment Center, Department of Community Medicine and Health, Lausanne University Hospital, Lausanne, Switzerland

Producers

Name	Affiliation	Role
Alcohol Treatment Center, Department of Community Medicine and Health, Lausanne University Hospital, Lausanne, Switzerland	CHUV	Producer

Funding Agency/Sponsor

Name	Abbreviation	Role
Swiss National Science Foundation	SNF	Study funding
Swiss National Science Foundation	SNF	C-SURF Cohorte funding

Sampling

Sampling Procedure

The trial took advantage of an ongoing cohort study (Cohort study on Substance Use Risk Factors, C-SURF) that included participants when they were attending the mandatory Swiss army recruitment process, allowing thus accessing the whole male general population at an age of around 19-20 years. C-SURF recruited participants at 3 out of 6 operating recruitment centers, including the one center operating for the entire French speaking part of Switzerland. When consenting to participate in C-SURF, participants provide their email address (most C-SURF procedures are done electronically) and consent to be contacted for studies related to C-SURF. C-SURF participants were recruited from August 2010 to July 2011. From June 2012 to February 2013, they were invited to participate in the internet prevention trial (following the C-SURF recruitment calendar), irrespective of their drinking.

Weighting

Data Collection

Dates of Data Collection

Start	End	Cycle
2012-06-01	2013-02-28	N/A

Data Collection Mode

Internet [int]

Data Collection Notes

Electronic assessments were conducted at baseline, 1 month and 6 months via a personal electronic link. Reminders were sent electronically within 3 days in case of non-completion of the assessment and over the phone/short text messages when reminders were not successful.

Data Collectors

Name	Affiliation
Alcohol Treatment Center, Department of Community Medicine and Health, Lausanne University Hospital, Lausanne, Switzerland	CHUV

Questionnaires

The study intervention was adapted from www.alcooquizz.ch. Alcooquizz has been developed based on interventions with demonstrated efficacy and adapted for Switzerland. Its acceptability has been assessed and showed high user satisfaction. It consisted of (1) normative feedback, indicating the percentage of people of the same age drinking as much as the participant and less than the participant (for weekly drinking and binge drinking frequency), (2) feedback on four categories of consequences (‘me, my body and my mind’; ‘me and the others’; ‘me and my professional activities’; and ‘me, violence and accidents’) with a gradation of impact for each category between low and high according to the number of reported consequences ), (3) calorific value of reported consumption and equivalents depicted as hamburgers and chocolate bars, (4) computed blood alcohol concentration for reported maximum number of drinks per occasion, (5) indication of risk (according to the presence of weekly risky drinking, binge drinking and AUDIT score), (6) information on alcohol and health and (7) recommendations indicating low-risk drinking limits (i.e. no more than 14?drinks per week and no more than five drinks per occasion).

Access policy

Access authority

Name	Affiliation	Email	URL
Bertholet, Nicolas	Alcohol Treatment Center, Department of Community Medicine and Health, Lausanne University Hospital, Lausanne, Switzerland	Nicolas.Bertholet@chuv.ch	http://www.chuv.ch/alcoologie

Contacts

Name	Affiliation	Email
Céline Racine (Repository administrator)	Center for Primary Care and Public Health (Unisanté), University of Lausanne, Switzerland	dfri.data@unisante.ch

Confidentiality

Confidentiality of respondents is guaranteed by Articles 4 to 15 of the Federal Act on Data Protection (FADP) of 19 June 1992 (Status as of 1 January 2014). Before being granted access to the dataset, all users have to formally agree: 1. To make no copies of any files or portions of files to which s/he is granted access except those authorized by the data depositor. 2. Not to use any technique in an attempt to learn the identity of any person, establishment, or sampling unit not identified on public use data files. 3. To hold in strictest confidence the identification of any establishment or individual that may be inadvertently revealed in any documents or discussion, or analysis. Such inadvertent identification revealed in her/his analysis will be immediately brought to the attention of the data depositor.

Access conditions

Licensed datasets, accessible under conditions

To request access to licensed datasets, please register to the website to continue (http://data.iumsp.ch/auth/register). Once your registration will be approved you must login and go to the "GET MICRODATA" tab and fill in the application form for access to the licensed dataset.

This form includes our Data access agreement and must be filled and submitted by the Lead Researcher. Lead Researcher refers to the person who serves as the main point of contact for all communications involving this agreement. Access to licensed datasets will only be granted when the Lead Researcher is an employee of a legally registered receiving agency (university, company, research centre, national or international organization, etc.) on behalf of which access to the data is requested. The Lead Researcher assumes all responsibility for compliance with all terms of this Data Access Agreement by employees of the receiving organization.

This request will be reviewed by a data release committee, who may decide to approve the request, to deny access to the data, or to request additional information from the Lead Researcher. A signed copy of this request form may also be requested.

Citation requirements

"Gaume, Jacques; Burnand, Bernard; Gmel, Gerhard; Faouzi, Mohamed; Bertholet, Nicolas; Daeppen, Jean-Bernard; Cunningham, John A.; (2015): Randomized controlled trial of an internet-based brief intervention targeting alcohol use: Primary and secondary prevention for young men in a general population sample; Alcohol Treatment Center, Department of Community Medicine and Health, Lausanne University Hospital, Lausanne, Switzerland; Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine, Lausanne University Hospital, Lausanne, Switzerland. Version 1.1 of the licensed dataset (March 2016), provided by the IUMSP Research Data Repository. DOI:10.16909/DATASET/2"

Disclaimer and copyrights

Disclaimer

The user of the data acknowledges that the original collector of the data, the authorized distributor of the data, and the relevant funding agency bear no responsibility for use of the data or for interpretations or inferences based upon such uses.

Metadata production

DDI Document ID

DDI-CHE-UES-RCTALCOHOL-2012-V1.2

Producers

Name	Abbreviation	Affiliation	Role
Alcohol Treatment Center, Department of Community Medicine and Health, Lausanne University Hospital, Lausanne, Switzerland		CHUV	Producer
Center for Primary Care and Public Health (Unisanté), University of Lausanne, Switzerland	Unisanté		Data Publisher

DDI Document version

V2 (April 2020)