Several communities have been found to be disproportionately affected by problems with alcohol use. To overcome this problem, they seek appropriate and effective interventions. This study aims to determine whether a culturally tailored contingency management intervention can result in increased abstinence among the participating communities.

This multisite randomized clinical trial included a total of 153 eligible adults who were Alaska Native and American Indian adults and had at least one day of high alcohol use episodes. The participants were randomly assigned to receive either the contingency management group or the control group. Those who were assigned to the contingency management group were asked to submit a urine sample indicating alcohol abstinence. The primary outcome of the study was alcohol-negative ethyl glucuronide (EtG) urine test result.

At a follow up of 16 weeks, 19 participants (59.4%) in the intervention group submitted an alcohol-negative urine sample compared with 18 participants (38.3%) in the control group. The findings suggested that participants in the contingency management group were more likely to submit an alcohol-negative urine sample compared with those in the control group.

The research concluded that contingency management could be an effective technique to increase alcohol abstinence in specific communities.

 Ref: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/article-abstract/2777003?resultClick=1

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