title: Efficacy of motivational enhancement therapy on alcohol use disorders in patients with chronic hepatitis C: a randomized controlled trial.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine the efficacy of motivational enhancement therapy (MET) on alcohol use in patients with the hepatitis C virus (HCV) and an alcohol use disorder (AUD).
  
  
  METHODS
  Randomized, single-blind, controlled trial comparing MET to a control education condition with 6-month follow-up.
  
  
  METHODS
  Patients were recruited from hepatitis clinics at the Minneapolis, Minnesota and Portland, Oregon Veterans Affairs Health Care Systems, USA.
  
  
  METHODS
  Patients with HCV, an AUD and continued alcohol use (n = 139) were randomized to receive either MET (n = 70) or a control education condition (n = 69) over 3 months.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data were self-reported percentage of days abstinent from alcohol and number of standard alcohol drinks per week 6 months after randomization.
  
  
  RESULTS
  At baseline, subjects in MET had 34.98% days abstinent, which increased to 73.15% at 6 months compared to 34.63 and 59.49% for the control condition. Multi-level models examined changes in alcohol consumption between MET and control groups. Results showed a significant increase in percentage of days abstinent overall (F(1120.4)  = 28.04, P < 0.001) and a significant group × time effect (F(1119.9)  = 5.23, P = 0.024) with the MET group showing a greater increase in percentage of days abstinent at 6 months compared with the education control condition. There were no significant differences between groups for drinks per week. The effect size of the MET intervention was moderate (0.45) for percentage of days abstinent.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Motivational enhancement therapy (MET) appears to increase the percentage of days abstinent in patients with chronic hepatitis C, alcohol use disorders and ongoing alcohol use.
authors.affiliation: Veterans Affairs Healthcare Systems, Minneapolis, MN, USA; Departments of Psychiatry, University of Minnesota-Medical School, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Dieperink
authors.forename: Bret
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Fuller
authors.forename: Carl
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Isenhart
authors.forename: Kelly
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: McMaken
authors.forename: Rebecca
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lenox
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pocha
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Thuras
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Hauser
mesh_terms: D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000523:psychology*; D019973:Alcohol-Related Disorders / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D019698:Hepatitis C, Chronic / Q000150:complications* / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D062405:Motivational Interviewing; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D016037:Single-Blind Method; D016896:Treatment Outcome
keywords: Alcohol; alcohol use disorder; hepatitis C; liver disease; motivation; motivational enhancement therapy