3 January 2023
Researchers:
Gillian W Shorter 1,2, Nick Heather3, Jeremy W Bray4, Amy J O’Donnell5, Aisha Holloway6, Emma L Giles2, Anne H Berman7,8, Mike Clarke1, Carolina Barbosa9, & Dorothy Newbury-Birch2
1Queen’s University Belfast, UK; 2Teesside University, UK; 3Northumbria University, UK; 4University of North Carolina at Greensboro, USA; 5Newcastle University, UK; 6Edinburgh University, UK; 7Karolinska Institutet, Sweden; 8Uppsala University, Sweden; 9RTI International, USA.
Key findings
10 items should be reported in all efficacy and effectiveness trials of Alcohol Brief Interventions (ABI) in adults aged 16 or over who are not seeking formal treatment.
- Typical frequency of consumption
- Typical quantity of consumption
- Frequency of heavy episodic drinking
- A combined consumption measure, which summarises alcohol use
- Hazardous or harmful drinking
- Standard drinks consumed in a week
- Alcohol related consequences
- Alcohol related injury
- Use of emergency healthcare services
- Quality of life
These should be measured to:
- Reduce selective reporting (e.g. only reporting some, often significant findings)
- Support stronger reviews of ABI evidence, as more studies can be included
- Reduce research waste (e.g. so your work can be used by more researchers)
- Help researchers easily find the internationally important outcomes
- Minimise time taken to justify outcomes to funders.
Reported outcomes should include, in detail:
- What was measured, how it was measured (including statistical methods and time points), and effect sizes with confidence intervals.
Trial reports should also comply with the Consolidated Standards for Reporting Trials (CONSORT), and relevant extensions.
