Trial Testing the Effect of Strategies on Performance of Brief Intervention Programmes for Harmful Alcohol Consumption

Randomised Controlled Trial Testing the Incremental Effect of Strategies That Raise Awareness, Acceptance and Performance of Identification and Brief Intervention Programmes for Harmful Alcohol Consumption in Primary Health Care

The overall objective is to study if training and support, financial reimbursement and referral to an internet based brief intervention programme, singly or in combination, may increase implementation of evidence based methods of identification and brief intervention for excessive alcohol consumption in routine primary health care.

The study will be a stepped cluster RCT in 5 countries and the endpoint of the study is the number of interventions delivered during a certain time period. More specifically, the RCT will examine:

• The effect of Continuous Medical Education (CME) to PHC providers
• The effect of financial reimbursement to PHC providers as a pay-for-performance of brief alcohol interventions
• Whether an alternative internet based method of delivering brief intervention can increase the proportion of patients reached
• If one implementation strategy will give an added value to one already enforced.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Primary Health Care Units (PHCU) of approximate size of 5.000-20.000 registered patients
• Primary Health Care Units (PHCU) located in Spain, Poland, Sweden, England or The Netherlands
• Providers must be physicians or nurses

Exclusion Criteria:

• Primary Health Care Units with less than 5.000 registered patients or over 20.000 registered patients