View clinical trials related to Alcohol Use, Unspecified.
Filter by:People experiencing chronic homelessness comprise a small yet high-morbidity, high-cost subset of the larger homeless population and are disproportionately impacted by alcohol-related harm. Unfortunately, traditional abstinence-based treatment does not adequately reach or engage this population, and both firsthand (problems stemming from one's own alcohol use) and secondhand (problems stemming from others' alcohol use) alcohol-related harm persists even after housing attainment. There have therefore been calls for more flexible and client-centered approaches tailored to this population's needs. Housing First, which entails the provision of immediate, permanent, low-barrier, nonabstinence-based housing, is a response to this call. Research has shown that Housing First is associated with decreased alcohol use, alcohol-related harm, and publicly funded service utilization. Nonetheless, Housing First residents continue to experience both first- and secondhand alcohol-related harm. Thus, further community-based interventions are necessary. To this end, a pilot project was conducted in which researchers as well as Housing First residents, staff and management codeveloped, implemented, and initially evaluated the Life Enhancing Alcohol-management Program (LEAP). The LEAP entails low-barrier, community-level, house-wide resident programming-including leadership opportunities, activities, and pathways to recovery. At the 6-month follow up, LEAP participants reported significantly more engagement in meaningful activities than control participants (p < .001). Moreover, high levels of LEAP program engagement (>2 activities per month) predicted significant reductions in alcohol use and alcohol-related harm (ps < .01). To build on these promising findings, we propose a larger, cluster-randomized controlled trial of LEAP (N=160) as an innovative, community-based, and client-driven adjunct to Housing First. Analyses will test LEAP effectiveness in increasing engagement in meaningful activities, decreasing alcohol use, ameliorating both first- and secondhand alcohol-related harm, and improving quality of life. Engagement in meaningful activities will also be tested as a mediator of the LEAP effect on alcohol and quality-of-life outcomes. Finally, we will assess whether LEAP is associated with reduced costs stemming from participants' use of emergency health-care and criminal justice services.
Investigators will establish a longitudinal cohort of ~3,000 adults >18 years in Port-au-Prince using multistage random sampling, and follow them longitudinally to evaluate the prevalence and incidence of cardiovascular disease risk factors and diseases. Cardiovascular risk factors include hypertension, diabetes, obesity, dyslipidemia, kidney disease, poor diet, cigarette smoking, physical inactivity, and inflammation. Cardiovascular disease include angina and myocardial infarction, heart failure, stroke, and CVD mortality. It is anticipated that hypertension prevalence will be ≥10% in 18-30 year olds, that hypertension incidence will be >10 events/1000 person years. Association of determinants and risk factors with CVD will also be examined. Whole blood, serum, plasma, stool, and urine samples will be biobanked for future studies.