Counselling for Alcohol Problems (CAP), a lay counsellor-delivered brief psychological treatment for harmful drinking in men

A paper by Abhijit Nadkarni et al., 2016

Accessing routine primary care
Primary healthcare facility

"CAP delivered by lay counsellors plus enhanced usual care (EUC) was better than EUC alone..."

A. Nadkarni et al.

Summary

Background

"Although structured psychological treatments are recommended as first-line interventions for harmful drinking, only a small fraction of people globally receive these treatments because of poor access in routine primary care. We assessed the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of Counselling for Alcohol Problems (CAP), a brief psychological treatment delivered by lay counsellors to patients with harmful drinking attending routine primary health-care settings."

Interpretation

"CAP delivered by lay counsellors plus enhanced usual care (EUC) was better than EUC alone was for harmful drinkers in routine primary health-care settings, and might be cost-effective. CAP could be a key strategy to reduce the treatment gap for alcohol use disorders, one of the leading causes of the global burden among men worldwide."

Link - Open Access

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(16)31590-2 Opens in new tab