Contact information
Type
Scientific
Primary contact
Dr Jason Luty
ORCID ID
Contact details
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust
Drug and Alcohol Service
Mill House
Brookfield Hospital
Cambridge
CB1 3DF
United Kingdom
+44 (0)7976731389
sl006h3607@blueyonder.co.uk
Additional identifiers
EudraCT number
ClinicalTrials.gov number
Protocol/serial number
N0610147759
Study information
Scientific title
Acronym
Study hypothesis
To develop a short interview for members of the general public that will reduce the stigmatised views towards people with substance use disorders (heroin addiction).
Ethics approval
Not provided at time of registration
Study design
Randomised controlled trial
Primary study design
Interventional
Secondary study design
Randomised controlled trial
Trial setting
Not specified
Trial type
Not Specified
Patient information sheet
Condition
Mental and Behavioural Disorders: Addiction
Intervention
Subjects will be recruited by adverts in local newspapers in Cambridge and invitation letters to local people chosen at random using random addresses generated using the wild-card function of the BT 0n-line directory. This technique has previously been used by the author in respect to the surveys quoted earlier. Respondents will be asked to telephone the principle investigator with a contact telephone number or address. The attitudes to mental illness questionnaire will then be sent to interested parties along with an information sheet. People who return the completed questionnaire will then be telephoned and an interview arranged a few weeks later either at Mill House, the subject's home or another safe location convenient to both parties. Whenever possible two subjects will be chosen from each household. Written informed consent will be obtained prior to starting the interview. The interview will involve a short series of questions and will last around 10 minutes. These questions are based in the principles of motivational interviewing. This technique has been widely shown to be effective in producing changes in behaviour and attitudes in addicted people including smokers, alcoholics and heroin addicts. It has also been used to increase compliance with antihypertensive medication in non-addicted people. A series of questions has been devised such as "What are the major problems preventing rehabilitation of heroin addicts in treatment", "What can society can to encourage heroin addicts to return to paid employment?" "How do you think housing problems can prevent people recovering from heroin addiction". The process of considering these questions is thought to produce changes in people's outlook and attitudes rather than the precise answers that are given. Subjects will not be given any specific information in answer to these questions unless they ask the investigator. Two versions of the interview will be used. One relating to heroin addiction, the other to diabetes. This will generate an experimental group and a control group (who were interviewed using the same questions adapted for diabetes). As far as possible motivational questions will be interchangeable between heroin addiction and diabetes. Subjects will be randomly assigned to receive either interview using a block randomisation technique performed by a third party (Dr Luty's staff grade at the Taylor Centre). Subjects will be randomised several days prior to the interview. When two subjects are recruited from the same household then each will receive a different interview in order to act as paired controls. At the end of the interview subjects will be asked to complete two versions of the attitude to mental illness questionnaire - one in respect to a hypothetical heroin addict and the other to a hypothetical diabetic). Diabetes was chosen as sufferers also inject drugs. However the validation study for the attitudes to mental illness questionnaire show people have a much more positive attitude to them than heroin addicts. The Attitudes to Mental Illness Questionnaire has recently been validated by the principle investigator in a large sample of the UK general public and is reliable and simple to administer. The self-completion questionnaire contains a short vignette describing a hypothetic patient. This is followed by 5 short questions to which the subject is asked to choose answers (e.g. John has been injecting heroin daily for 1 year - 1. Do you think that this would damage John's career? Strongly agree/Agree/Neutral/Disagree/Strongly disagree/Don't know). The questionnaire produces scores from -10 to +10. The responses from the above survey of over 800 people gave a mean score of -5.38 standard error 0.53) for a hypothetical heroin addict and 5.82 (standard error 0.11) for a hypothetical diabetic. A follow up will take place at 3 months with subjects being posted the questionnaire and asked to complete the questionnaire once again. Subjects will be contacted with a follow-up questionnaire once again. Subjects will be contacted with a follow-up telephone call for those who fail to respond. Subjects will be paid £15 each for time and inconvenience and to cover any travelling expenses. In the event that interviews are conducted off Hospital sites the location of the interview and contact details will be logged with the Principle Investigator's base as per the Lone Working Policy. The Methadone Alliance has been consulted in regard to the above project. This is a national organisation which represents and promotes the welfare of recovering heroin users.
Intervention type
Other
Phase
Not Specified
Drug names
Primary outcome measure
Not provided at time of registration
Secondary outcome measures
Not provided at time of registration
Overall trial start date
12/07/2004
Overall trial end date
12/01/2006
Reason abandoned (if study stopped)
Eligibility
Participant inclusion criteria
100 subjects (50 in each group)
Participant type
Patient
Age group
Not Specified
Gender
Not Specified
Target number of participants
100
Participant exclusion criteria
Not provided at time of registration
Recruitment start date
12/07/2004
Recruitment end date
12/01/2006
Locations
Countries of recruitment
United Kingdom
Trial participating centre
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust
Cambridge
CB1 3DF
United Kingdom
Sponsor information
Organisation
Department of Health
Sponsor details
Richmond House
79 Whitehall
London
SW1A 2NL
United Kingdom
+44 (0)20 7307 2622
dhmail@doh.gsi.org.uk
Sponsor type
Government
Website
Funders
Funder type
Government
Funder name
Cambridge Consortium - Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust (UK) Own account NHS R&D Support Funding
Alternative name(s)
Funding Body Type
Funding Body Subtype
Location
Results and Publications
Publication and dissemination plan
Not provided at time of registration
Intention to publish date
Participant level data
Not provided at time of registration
Basic results (scientific)
Publication list
2009 results in http://pb.rcpsych.org/cgi/reprint/33/6/212.pdf