title: Screening and brief interventions for hazardous and harmful alcohol use in probation services: a cluster randomised controlled trial protocol.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  A large number of randomised controlled trials in health settings have consistently reported positive effects of brief intervention in terms of reductions in alcohol use. However, although alcohol misuse is common amongst offenders, there is limited evidence of alcohol brief interventions in the criminal justice field. This factorial pragmatic cluster randomised controlled trial with Offender Managers (OMs) as the unit of randomisation will evaluate the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of different models of screening to identify hazardous and harmful drinkers in probation and different intensities of brief intervention to reduce excessive drinking in probation clients.
  
  
  METHODS
  Ninety-six OMs from 9 probation areas across 3 English regions (the North East Region (n = 4) and London and the South East Regions (n = 5)) will be recruited. OMs will be randomly allocated to one of three intervention conditions: a client information leaflet control condition (n = 32 OMs); 5-minute simple structured advice (n = 32 OMs) and 20-minute brief lifestyle counselling delivered by an Alcohol Health Worker (n = 32 OMs). Randomisation will be stratified by probation area. To test the relative effectiveness of different screening methods all OMs will be randomised to either the Modified Single Item Screening Questionnaire (M-SASQ) or the Fast Alcohol Screening Test (FAST). There will be a minimum of 480 clients recruited into the trial. There will be an intention to treat analysis of study outcomes at 6 and 12 months post intervention. Analysis will include client measures (screening result, weekly alcohol consumption, alcohol-related problems, re-offending, public service use and quality of life) and implementation measures from OMs (the extent of screening and brief intervention beyond the minimum recruitment threshold will provide data on acceptability and feasibility of different models of brief intervention). We will also examine the practitioner and organisational factors associated with successful implementation.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The trial will evaluate the impact of screening and brief alcohol intervention in routine probation work and therefore its findings will be highly relevant to probation teams and thus the criminal justice system in the UK.Ethical approval was given by Northern & Yorkshire REC.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  ISRCTN 19160244.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Health and Society, Newcastle University, Newcastle, UK. dorothy.newbury-birch@ncl.ac.uk
authors.forename: Dorothy
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Newbury-Birch
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bland
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Cassidy
authors.forename: Simon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Coulton
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Deluca
authors.forename: Colin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Drummond
authors.forename: Eilish
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Gilvarry
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Godfrey
authors.forename: Nick
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Heather
authors.forename: Eileen
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kaner
authors.forename: Judy
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Myles
authors.forename: Adenekan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Oyefeso
authors.forename: Steve
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Parrott
authors.forename: Katherine
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Perryman
authors.forename: Tom
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Phillips
authors.forename: Don
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Shenker
authors.forename: Jonathan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Shepherd
mesh_terms: D000437:Alcoholism / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy*; D002985:Clinical Protocols; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D003376:Counseling; D004739:England; D006801:Humans; D008019:Life Style; D008403:Mass Screening; D012926:Social Control, Formal; D016896:Treatment Outcome