Community reinforcement and family training (CRAFT) - design of a cluster randomized controlled trial comparing individual, group and self-help interventions.
BACKGROUND
Around 585,000 people in Denmark engage in harmful use of alcohol with 140,000 suffering from outright alcohol dependence. The concerned significant others (CSOs) are affected by the drinking, often suffering almost as much as the person with alcohol use disorder. Community Reinforcement and Family Training (CRAFT) is aimed at CSOs who struggle unsuccessfully, in an effort to motivate their loved ones to stop drinking and seek treatment. The aims of this study are 1) To implement CRAFT interventions into the daily routine of operating Danish alcohol treatment centers 2) To investigate whether 6-week-individual CRAFT, 6-week-open group-based CRAFT or CRAFT based on self-help material, is efficient in getting problem drinkers to seek treatment for their alcohol problems 3) To investigate which of the three interventions (individual, group or self-directed CRAFT) is the most effective and in which group of population.


METHODS
The study is a three-arm, cluster randomized controlled trial: A: individual CRAFT, group CRAFT, and CRAFT as a self-help intervention. A total of 405 concerned significant others to persons with alcohol abuse will be recruited from 24 alcohol outpatient clinics. The participants will fill out a questionnaire regarding i.e. life quality, if the drinking person entered treatment (main outcome) and satisfaction with the intervention, at baseline and after 3 and 6 months.


DISCUSSION
We expect to establish evidence as to whether CRAFT is efficient in a Danish treatment setting and whether CRAFT is most effective at individual, group or self-help material only.


TRIAL REGISTRATION
Clinical trials.gov ID: NCT03281057 . Registration date: September 13th, 2017.
['Hellum|Rikke|R|http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1587-7991', 'Nielsen|Anette Søgaard|AS|', 'Bischof|Gallus|G|', 'Andersen|Kjeld|K|', 'Hesse|Morten|M|', 'Ekstrøm|Claus Thorn|CT|', 'Bilberg|Randi|R|']
D000328:Adult D000437:Alcoholism D003718:Denmark D005196:Family Therapy D005260:Female D005500:Follow-Up Studies D006801:Humans D008297:Male D009042:Motivation D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care D012056:Reinforcement, Social D012657:Self-Help Groups D016320:Substance Abuse Treatment Centers D016896:Treatment Outcome
Community reinforcement and family training CRAFT Concerned significant others Alcohol use disorder Alcohol treatment Treatment engagement