Project Type(s):
Clinical Research

Alcohol use disorder (AUD) frequently results in serious illness, injuries, and hospitalizations. Surviving illness or injuries related to alcohol use can motivate behavior change that could be harnessed through treatment engagement for AUD in the hospital; however, in general hospital settings, patients are rarely presented with more than a piece of paper with phone numbers to call for help with their drinking. This project is focused on designing and evaluating a shared decision making approach for AUD treatment in hospitalized patients. We are interviewing people who are hospitalized with complications of AUD to better understand their unique needs and preferences. We are using the knowledge gained from interviews with patients to adapt a paper-based decision aid that was originally designed to help clinic patients think about changing their drinking, and creating an interactive web-based interface, tailored to hospitalized patients. We will then evaluate the use and effectiveness of this new online decision aid for engaging hospitalized patients in AUD treatment. The overarching goal of this research is to more effectively use hospitalizations to bridge individuals to long-term, potentially lifesaving AUD care.

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