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Impact of brief relapse prevention intervention in patients with alcohol dependence in Zambia

Abstract A randomized control trial is reported of a brief family intervention for alcohol problems (taken from the WHO mental health general action plan) involving 114 alcohol-dependent patients recruited from consecutive admissions at Chainama Hills Hospital, Lusaka, Zambia with 8-week follow-up post-discharge. All 114 consecutive admissions with primary alcohol problems agreed to take part, and follow-up information was obtained for all participants at 8 weeks (refusal rate 0%; follow-up rate 100%). There were 56 participants in the non-intervention group and 58 participants in the intervention group who received a brief family based intervention. (Follow-up was 100% and there were no exclusions or refusals.) The intervention group had an average time to first drink of 51 days (standard deviation = 14), while the non-intervention group had average time to first drink of 10 days (standard deviation = 16). There was a significant difference between the two groups, with the intervention group having a long abstinence period (t = 14.368; df = 112; p = 0.001). Frequency of alcohol consumption was also assessed using the first three items of the AUDIT questionnaire (maximum range 0–12). The average scores fell from 10.3 (SD = 1.6) to 1.3 (SD = 3.1) in the intervention and 8.9 (SD = 3.9) for the non-intervention group (effect size 1.5; p < 0.001). The WHO mhGAP interview is a highly effective, family-based brief intervention for alcohol problems that could be widely used.