APPRAISE Study
Research type
Research Study
Full title
A two-arm parallel group individually randomised Prison Pilot study of a male Remand Alcohol Intervention for Self-efficacy Enhancement: the APPRAISE study
IRAS ID
261003
Contact name
Aisha Holloway
Contact email
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 1 months, 0 days
Research summary
Research Summary
Approximately 94,000 people are incarcerated in United Kingdom (UK) prisons (95% males). Many frequently suffer from multiple and complex health issues, including mental and physical health problems, learning difficulties and alcohol and drug misuse. Our previous work identified that 80% of participants surveyed in prison have an alcohol use disorder (males on remand: 19% hazardous; 14% harmful; and 49% probably dependent). Alcohol related crime costs £11 billion per year and as many as 70% of prisoners have admitted to being under the influence of alcohol when committing the crime which led to their imprisonment.
Providing support and advice regarding alcohol consumption (often known as an ‘intervention’) can be effective in some groups of people. We do not yet know whether an alcohol intervention can be delivered or be effective when delivered to men on being held on remand.
We aim to ‘test’ an alcohol intervention using a small ‘trial’. This pilot will divide men on remand into two groups by chance. One group will be given the alcohol intervention whilst in prison and for a short time after they are released, the other group will not receive the intervention at all. This will help us find out if it is possible and acceptable to use these interventions in a prison environment and find out which one would work in the ‘real world’. We will also speak to people involved in the trial to find out what they thought. This small trial is often the best way to find out whether a new intervention will work before it can be tested in a larger trial and provided in the longer term.Summary of Results
WHAT WAS THE QUESTION?
We know many men on remand report being under the influence of alcohol at the time of their arrest. Having a short conversation providing alcohol support and advice (known as an ‘intervention’) can be effective. However, we don’t know if an alcohol intervention for men on remand in prison is possible to deliver or if we can ‘test’ the benefit of it. The aim of the study was to ‘test’ an intervention named APPRAISE using a small sized study, for men on remand in one Scottish and one English prison.
WHAT DID WE DO?
We aimed to get 180 men in our study. Men taking part were asked to tell us about their alcohol drinking. Men reporting ‘risky’ drinking, were split into two groups by chance. One group were to be given the APPRAISE intervention whilst in prison and once released. The other group did not receive the intervention. We then set out to measure their drinking levels after 12 months. We interviewed different people involved in the study to find out what they thought.
WHAT DID WE FIND?
We successfully recruited 132 men but had to stop due to Covid-19, as we were unable to go into the prisons. We delivered 53 out of 68 interventions in prison but not once men were released, we were only able to contact 18 out of 132 men at 12 months. People we interviewed stated that having an intervention to support risky drinking would be acceptable however this would require investment, time, space, capacity and trust.
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?
Before we can plan a larger study we need to identify the best way to locate men once released from prison, to deliver the whole intervention and measure its effect on drinking levels.REC name
East of Scotland Research Ethics Service REC 1
REC reference
19/ES/0068
Date of REC Opinion
23 Aug 2019
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion