NCT04725266

A Family-based Intervention for Drug-abusing Adults in Hong Kong

A Family-based Intervention for Drug-abusing Adults in Hong Kong: a Quasi-experimental Trial

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 82 (actual)
• Sponsor: The University of Hong Kong · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years – 55 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

To develop a family-based intervention with components of engagement, family roles, affection, and competence and verify its effectiveness on drug abstinence and family functioning for drug-abusing adults in Hong Kong; To compare the difference between family-based intervention and routine care which mainly consists of individual counselling services for drug abusers.

Detailed description

This is a quasi-experimental trial examining the effects of a proposed family-based intervention for drug abusers on motivating them to stay drug abstinence and improve family functioning, in which 40 drug abusers with focal families (including spouses and/or children) will be recruited for intervention group receiving both family-based intervention and routine care and 40 drug abusers without involving family will be recruited for comparison group receiving routine care. In the in-take, drug-abusing subjects will be given a brief introduction and invited to provide basic background information about themselves and families. After filling the informed consent, participants will be assigned to intervention group or comparison group according to whether their family will join sessions together. After drug abusers and families fill in the online questionnaire at the baseline (T0), the intervention group will receive family-based intervention and routine care in one month, while the comparison group will receive only routine care in one month. Both groups will be assessed at two time points after intervention period (T1 = 1-month after baseline; T2 = 2-month after baseline). As hypothesized, the intervention group will show a greater reduction in the primary outcomes of drug use and greater increase in the secondary outcomes of family functioning than the comparison group. A repeated-measures analysis of covariance will be conducted to assess the effects of family-based intervention.

Conditions

• Drug Abuse

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	Family-based intervention	The intervention aims to motivate drug abusers to stay drug abstinence and improve family functioning with the support of their own families. In the component of engagement, we will use effective and appropriate skills to engage clients, understand their concerns, and provide necessary resources to them. In the component of role identification, we will help drug abusers identify their family roles through providing education on family roles and responsibilities. The component of affection is designed to learn affective responsiveness and enhance their emotional bonds with each other, while in the component of competence, we will enhance their competency to take care of the family. The intervention will be conducted in group sessions with 4-6 families per group. A total of 17 sessions will be delivered with 1.5-2 hour for each session (6 sessions for Engagement, 3 sessions for Role identification, 3 sessions for Affection, and 3 sessions for Competence).
OTHER	routine care	Routine care includes individual-session components of engagement, case assessment, drug education, service referral, family support, and etc.

Timeline

• Start date: 2019-09-01
• Primary completion: 2022-12-31
• Completion: 2023-06-01
• First posted: 2021-01-26
• Last updated: 2024-10-10

Locations

1 site across 1 country: Hong Kong