Clinical Research Directory

Chatbot-delivered Screening and Brief Intervention for Alcohol Reduction in Working-age Adults

Alcohol abuse led to 5.3% of all deaths and 5.1% of all disability-adjusted life years globally in 2016, representing a heavier public health burden than diabetes, tuberculosis or HIV/AIDS (as documented in the World Health Organization (WHO) Global Status Report on Alcohol and Health). The increasing consumption of alcohol for a few decades has led to a higher risk of cirrhosis, cancers, hypertension, and cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. Strengthening of the prevention and treatment of alcohol abuse has been incorporated in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG3) by the United Nations. Strong evidence from a meta-analysis demonstrated the efficacy of screening and brief intervention (SBI) in reducing weekly alcohol consumption. Although SBI is known to be effective in reducing alcohol consumption in at-risk drinkers, barriers to implementing SBI have been an issue. A systematic review identified that common barriers to the routine delivery of SBI by doctors and nurses included a lack of alcohol-related knowledge, time, confidence, ability, and incentive to intervene; worrying about offending patients; and SBI being an uncomfortable and frustrating task. To scale up behavioural change interventions in primary care for expanding the scalability and reachability, artificial intelligence (AI) and AI-chatbots have been increasingly used in recent years. A systematic review showed that chatbots for mental health counselling were effective and safe. Other reviews also reported that chatbots might improve physical activity, diet, and weight management and oncology care. However, having searched PubMed and the Cochrane Library, there was no a randomised controlled trial on the use of an AI-chatbot for alcohol reduction.