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Week 36 2024

Recommendations for Recruiting and Retaining Citizens in Alcohol Treatment

How can we get citizens into alcohol treatment earlier and how can we keep them in treatment? Researchers at the National Institute of Public Health have some suggestions and are now sharing their recommendations from an intervention study that has successfully managed to get citizens into alcohol treatment early and retain them.

Positive and non-judgmental communication about alcohol problems, personal contact between the citizen and the therapist, and flexibility regarding the time and place of treatment.

These are some of the recommendations from the research project Overkanten.dk.

The aim of the project was to investigate whether alcohol treatment via video conferencing is as effective as in-person sessions. The recommendations are now available on the website here.

"Treatment via Overkanten.dk was effective in terms of getting citizens into treatment early and retaining them. Six key elements contributed to the project's success, and we are eager to share these insights with municipalities and others working in alcohol treatment and prevention," says Professor Janne Tolstrup from the National Institute of Public Health.

A total of 356 citizens with problematic alcohol use participated in Overkanten.dk. They were recruited via social media and randomly divided into two groups: one group was offered in-person alcohol treatment, while the other group was offered treatment via video conferencing.

After a year, the results showed that both treatment methods were equally effective in reducing alcohol consumption. However, online alcohol treatment was more successful in getting citizens into treatment earlier and retaining them.

Kia Kejlskov Egan, project leader and PhD student, explains:

"Part of the explanation is that the online format offers flexibility and integrates easily into daily life. This is particularly appealing to busy people who are employed. It also allows for greater privacy, as treatment can take place at home via a screen, eliminating the need to visit a clinic."

Positive Communication

The project also focused on positive communication, where both problematic alcohol use and alcohol treatment were portrayed differently.

"We talked about counseling rather than treatment and emphasized the benefits of changing alcohol habits rather than the drawbacks of not doing so. This approach resonated with citizens who lead otherwise functional lives and do not have severe alcohol problems, making them more receptive to communication that is not overly problem-focused or stigmatizing," says Kia Kejlskov Egan.

Reaching Out to Citizens

The researchers also recommend adopting a more proactive approach to engage citizens early on and facilitate their treatment initiation.

For example, on the website, citizens were only required to fill out a simple contact form with their email address and phone number.

"They were then quickly contacted by a therapist to schedule the first treatment session, thus shifting much of the responsibility for initiating treatment." says Kia Kejlskov Egan.

The research project was conducted in collaboration with Novaví, which handled the alcohol treatment.

The six recommendations are:

  1. Positive and non-judgmental communication about alcohol problems and treatment during the recruitment of citizens. On the project's website and in social media ads, the focus was on the benefits of changing habits and it was emphasized that alcohol treatment can consist of just a few sessions. The word 'treatment' was replaced with 'counseling'.
  2. An initial outreach effort. Citizens were only asked to provide a few contact details on the website and were then contacted by a therapist. This meant that the therapist took on most of the responsibility for getting the treatment started.
  3. Personal contact. Even though the alcohol treatment took place online, the personal relationship between the therapist and the citizen was central to the participants: they valued the trusting and personal dialogue.
  4. Flexibility regarding time and place. The online format allowed citizens to integrate treatment into their daily lives, considering factors such as transport, busy schedules, desires for discretion, anonymity, and more. Sessions were conducted from home, in the car, or at the office.
  5. Flexibility regarding communication channels. Sessions were primarily conducted via video conferencing but could also be conducted by phone or in person. This flexibility ensured that sessions could still take place if technical issues arose. Additionally, the first sessions could take place via phone if the citizen found video sessions overwhelming or intimidating.
  6. Flexibility regarding the duration of sessions and treatment courses. Individual sessions lasted a maximum of one hour but could be shorter if that suited the citizen better. There were also no requirements regarding the overall duration of the treatment course, allowing for courses tailored to the individual citizen.

Contact:

Professor Janne Tolstrup, tel.: +45 6550 7735, email: jest@sdu.dk
PhD student and project leader Kia Kejlskov Egan, tel.: +45 6550 7741, email: kiae@sdu.dk
National Institute of Public Health, SDU.

Would you like to know more?

Overkanten.dk

Editing was completed: 04.09.2024