Evaluating the Efficacy of Telehealth-Delivered Brief Family Involved Treatment (B-FIT) for Alcohol Use Disorder Among Veterans
Medical University of South Carolina
Summary
Improving alcohol use disorder (AUD) treatment among Veterans is a national public health problem. The rate of AUD among Veterans is twice that of civilians, with up to 50% of Veterans having AUD. Family-based AUD programs are rarely undertaken in busy treatment clinics, and Veterans with problem drinking behavior or AUD are commonly excluded from couple therapies. As a result, there is a need to develop effective family AUD treatments that are both brief and highly accessible to Veterans. The purpose of this study is to evaluate a new treatment add-on called Brief Family-Involved Treatment (B-FIT), which will be delivered via telehealth among Veterans engaged in alcohol-based treatment/therapy. This study is an 12-week, Stage-II, open randomized controlled trial examining B-FIT in combination with treatment as usual (TAU), (in this case B-FIT+ Cognitive Behavioral Therapy treatment) as compared to TAU alone (CBT treatment).Veterans and their treatment companion (family member, partner, friend) will complete weekly assessments during the treatment phase in addition to 3 \& 6 month follow-up assessments, all via telehealth.
Description
Improving alcohol use disorder (AUD) treatment among Veterans is a national public health priority. The prevalence of AUD among Veterans is twice that of civilians, with up to 50% of Veterans meeting diagnostic criteria for lifetime AUD. Although one in 6 Veterans has an AUD diagnosis in their medical record, substantial barriers to accessing evidence-based AUD treatment persists in this population. While adaptive family support is a critical ingredient to effective AUD treatment and drinking reductions, maladaptive family functioning interferes with AUD recovery and is a precipitant of relaps…