Evidence map›Paper›PMID 31286906›Full record

Trial reportBMC psychiatry2019

A pragmatic randomised trial of two counselling models at the Swedish national alcohol helpline.

Eleonor Säfsten, Yvonne Forsell, Mats Ramstedt, Kerstin Damström Thakker, Maria Rosaria Galanti

Open access · goldAbstract readPragmatic Clinical TrialRandomized Controlled Trial
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Trial report in BMC psychiatry, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed
0.5field-weighted citation impact, top 33% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

4 citing papers in PubMed, 7 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Observational
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.

Eleonor SäfstenDepartment of Public Health Sciences, Karolinska Institutet, 171 77, Stockholm, Sweden. eleonor.safsten@ki.se.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7276-2544
Yvonne ForsellDepartment of Public Health Sciences, Karolinska Institutet, 171 77, Stockholm, Sweden.
Mats RamstedtDepartment of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, 171 77, Stockholm, Sweden.
Kerstin Damström ThakkerCentre for Epidemiology and Community Medicine, Stockholm Health Care District, Stockholm County Council, 104 31, Stockholm, Sweden.
Maria Rosaria GalantiDepartment of Public Health Sciences, Karolinska Institutet, 171 77, Stockholm, Sweden.
Stockholm County Council · SEKarolinska Institutet · SESwedish Research Council · SE

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundAlcohol telephone helplines targeting alcohol consumers in the general population can extend the reach of brief interventions while preserving in-person counselling. So far, studies of client outcomes in the setting of alcohol helplines are scarce. This study aims to compare the 6-months alcohol-related outcomes of two counselling models delivered at the Swedish National Alcohol Helpline.

methodsA pragmatic randomised trial was set up at the Swedish National Alcohol Helpline. First-time callers with current hazardous or harmful alcohol use who contacted the helpline, from May 2015 to December 2017, were invited to participate. Clients were allocated with 1:1 ratio to two groups: (1) brief, structured intervention (n = 128), including self-help material and one counsellor-initiated call, and (2) usual care (n = 133), i.e. multiple-session counselling using Motivational Interviewing (MI). The primary outcome was a downward change in AUDIT risk-zone between baseline and 6-months follow-up. The analysis followed an intention-to-treat approach.

resultsRecruitment ended in December 2017. At 6-months follow-up, 70% of the enrolled participants had data on the outcome. In the brief, structured intervention (n = 107) 68% changed to a lower risk-level, compared to 61% in the usual care group (n = 117), yielding a risk ratio (RR) of 1.12 (95% CI 0.93 to 1.37) and risk difference of 0.08 (95% CI -0.05 to 0.20). The total AUDIT score and the scores from the AUDIT consumption questions (AUDIT-C) did not reveal any between-group differences in the mean change at follow-up.

conclusionsThe counselling at the Swedish National Alcohol Helpline was followed by a significant decrease in alcohol use among clients, without clear superiority for either counselling model.

trial registrationThis trial was retrospectively registered with ISRCNT.com (ID: ISRCTN13160878 ) 18/01/2016.

Indexed as

HotlinesAdultAlcohol DrinkingAlcoholismCounselingFemaleHealth BehaviorHumansMaleMiddle AgedMotivational InterviewingSelf CareSwedenTreatment OutcomeBrief interventionCounsellingDrinkingHarmful alcohol useHazardous alcohol useRandomised controlled trialTelephone helpline

Identifiers

PMID31286906
PMCPMC6615184
OpenAlexW2962339885

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.