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February 2015 |
drinkanddrugsnews
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ONLINE INTERVENTION
Alcohol action charity HAGA, based in north London, has gained a reputation
for innovation and has recently focused on bringing a variety of technological
innovations to the early identification and treatment of alcohol misuse. In
particular, they have strived to attract those drinkers that are currently under-
represented in alcohol services – typically those increasing and higher risk
drinkers scoring 8-19 on the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) –
and to offer them psychosocial interventions in the right place at the right time.
HAGA first developed an online screening, advice and referral tool,
DontBottleItUp (dontbottleitup.org.uk), and then DrinkCoach
(www.drinkcoach.org.uk), a smartphone and tablet app. Around 40,000 people
visited DontBottleItUp in 2014 and it is currently commissioned in seven local
authorities (with four more due to launch in the next month). Working with
Alcohol Concern recently, they piloted offering VoIP-based interventions to
higher risk and mildly dependent drinkers identified via DontBottleItUp.
This initial pilot was successful, with service users and staff giving excellent
feedback. Qualitative findings are soon to be published, with service users
reporting the main advantages as ease of use, avoiding their concerns about
going into an alcohol treatment service, and the relative anonymity of the
interventions. One told us that: ‘The main appeal was that it was easy; I didn’t
have to go anywhere. For me it was the only option, when other options
weren’t available.’
Staff also found the concept of VoIP sessions acceptable, with the benefits of
no travel times between sites, the ability to see more service users in their
working day and potentially accessing a new cohort of people seeking help for
alcohol problems top of their list of advantages. There were positive
experiences too in delivering the sessions despite some initial anxieties about
using their therapeutic skills in a different medium. A HAGA worker
commented: ‘I found the session more comfortable than I expected. I had
concerns about if the interactions would be “cold” –
ie
difficult to build up a
therapeutic relationship.’
The pilot is now turning into a mainstay online alcohol extended brief
intervention appointment option, launching in Haringey this month via
DontBottleItUp, and more widely in April.
Even though ‘airlocks’ have largely become a thing of the past, the poor
image of alcohol services looms large in the public psyche. Developing online
alcohol support is one way that HAGA is striving to break down the barriers
experienced by people affected by alcohol misuse, and to open the door onto
new options for change.
Mark Holmes is telehealth coordinator at HAGA, a charity working with and
on behalf of people, families and communities affected by alcohol,
www.haga.co.uk
e airlock
Communication age
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NHS ENGLAND in the 2013 document
The NHS
belongs to the people: a call to action
describes how it
is working to harness technology to fundamentally
improve productivity, putting people in charge of their
own health and care:
‘It’s about changing the
physiology of the NHS, not its anatomy.’
The NHS is
committed to delivering more care at home, yet too
often patients have to travel to healthcare providers.
>
RESEARCH suggests that telehealth solutions are
highly acceptable to those looking for support with
alcohol problems (Muench et al 2013, Marsch and
Dallery 2012).
>
THE AVERAGE time spent browsing online was 36
hours 49 minutes per month in March 2014:
‘We're
now spending more time using media or
communications than sleeping. The convenience and
simplicity of smartphones and tablets are helping us
cram more activities into our daily lives’
(Ofcom, 2014).
>
EACH HOUSEHOLD in the UK has, on average, three
different types of internet-enabled devices and 86 per
cent have at least one. Seventy-seven per cent of adults
have broadband (Ofcom, 2014). Almost three in ten
people have used VoIP services, like Skype or FaceTime,
on mobile phones. Nearly all (98 per cent) of 16-24s and
25-34s are now online.