title: Internet-based screening and brief intervention for illicit drug users: a randomized controlled trial with 12-month follow-up.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This trial investigated the effects of access to an Internet-based screening and brief intervention site for illicit drug users. This article adds to previously published results from the 3- and 6-month follow-ups by extending the follow-up period to 12 months and reporting changes in substance use between the 6- and 12-month follow-ups.
  
  
  METHODS
  In total, 202 Internet help-seekers with illicit drug use, 15-70 years old, were randomly assigned to either an intervention group that received Internet-based screening and brief intervention via eScreen.se or to an assessment-only control group. The primary outcome measure was the Drug Use Disorders Identification Test consumption questions (DUDIT-C) score, and secondary outcome measures were the DUDIT, Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test consumption questions (AUDIT-C), and AUDIT scores, as well as the proportion of drug abstainers and participants making a clinically significant change in their alcohol and other drug use.
  
  
  RESULTS
  DUDIT-C, DUDIT, AUDIT-C, and AUDIT scores remained stable between the 6- and 12-month follow-ups. However, 12 months after recruitment, 34.3% of those who used eScreen.se had changed their alcohol use to a clinically lower level compared with the 21.8% of the controls. Also, none of the eScreen.se users increased their level of alcohol use during this 12-month period, whereas 5.0% in the control group did so.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Despite no changes in illicit drug use from the 6- to 12-month follow-up for both the intervention and control group, eScreen.se seems to be more effective than assessment only for reducing alcohol use among illicit drug users over a 12-month period.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Center for Psychiatric Research, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden, Stockholm Center for Dependency Disorders, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Kristina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sinadinovic
authors.affiliation: Centre for Social Research on Alcohol and Drugs (SoRAD), Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden, Department of Public Health, Division of Social Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Wennberg
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Center for Psychiatric Research, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden, Stockholm Center for Dependency Disorders, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Anne H
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Berman
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D061345:Early Medical Intervention / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D013287:Illicit Drugs; D020407:Internet; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods*; D008875:Middle Aged; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D013287:Illicit Drugs