Computerized Vs In-Person Brief Intervention for Drug Misuse: RCT

We have written much about the challenges of widespread implementation of SBIRT in the US. Well, authors of a new study, published online this month in the journal, Addiction, have suggested a novel tool which they believe could help ensure that scores of additional patients are being screened: computerized brief intervention. And according to their study, it works as well and the in-person version:

Abstract

Background and aims

Several studies have found that brief interventions (BIs) for drug misuse have superior effectiveness to no-treatment controls. However, many health centers do not provide BIs for drug use consistently due to insufficient behavioral health staff capacity. Computerized BIs for drug use are a promising approach, but their effectiveness compared with in-person BIs has not been established. This study compared the effectiveness of a computerized brief intervention (CBI) to an in-person brief intervention (IBI) delivered by a behavioral health counselor.

Methods

Two-arm randomized clinical trial, conducted in two health centers in New Mexico, USA. Participants were 360 adult primary care patients with moderate-risk drug scores on the Alcohol, Smoking, and Substance Involvement Screening Test (ASSIST) who were randomly assigned on a 1:1 basis to a computerized brief intervention (CBI) or to an in-person brief intervention (IBI) delivered by a behavioral health counselor. Assessments were conducted at baseline and 3-month follow-up, and included the ASSIST and drug testing on hair samples.

Results

The IBI and CBI conditions did not differ at 3 months on global ASSIST drug scores (b=-1.79; 95% CI=-4.37,-0.80) or drug-positive hair tests (OR=.97; 95% CI= 0.47,1.94). There was a statistically significant advantage of CBI over IBI in substance-specific ASSIST scores for marijuana (b=-1.73; 95% CI= -2.91,-0.55; Cohen's d=.26; p=.004) and cocaine (b= -4.48; 95% CI= -8.26,-0.71; Cohen's d=.50; p=.037) at 3 months.

Conclusions

Computerized brief intervention can be an effective alternative to in-person brief intervention for addressing moderate drug use in primary care.

What do you think - could computerized brief interventions be the key to widespread SBIRT implementation?

Source: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/add.12502/abstract