ID-5184 Wonca Abstracts supplement A-K 13-10-23 - Flipbook - Page 168
WONCA 2023 Supplement 1: WONCA 2023 abstracts (A–K)
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Tearing down barriers to care: Evaluation of a home
telehealth alcohol withdrawal service
Dr Christopher Davis1,2, Eva Louie3
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Clean Slate Clinic, 2St Vincent’s Hospital Sydney, 3The University of Sydney
Background
Clean Slate Clinic is a social enterprise with a mission to demolish stigma, geographical and financial
barriers to accessing alcohol and other drug treatments. It has done this by developing a model of
home alcohol and other drug withdrawal delivered entirely through telehealth. The University of Sydney
has evaluated the model.
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Objectives
To study the model’s adoptability, acceptability and effectiveness.
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Secondary objectives include evaluating sociodemographics, Severity of Alcohol Dependence (SADQ)
scores and comorbidities.
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Methods
Eighty-one participants were screened for a prospective 28-day observational study conducted over a
12-month period. Fifty people completed detox. Exclusion criteria included history of seizures, complex
comorbidities, suicide or family violence risk, lack of support person or secure housing. Outcomes
were retrieved from clinic documentation and questionnaires.
Findings
Participants who completed the three-month follow-up questionnaire were highly satisfied (n = 7)
with the service. At one month post-detox, 84% (42) of clients were ‘meeting alcohol goals’, 14%
(7) had ‘reduced alcohol dependence’ and 2% (1) had relapsed. The mean number of standard
drinks consumed weekly decreased from 76 at baseline to five at one month post-detox, 19 at three
months and 24 at six months. Kessler Psychological Distress (K10) scores ranged from 24.61 (high
psychological distress) at baseline to 16 (moderate psychological distress) at one month post-detox
and 15.71 at three months post-detox. There were no adverse events reported.
Conclusions
The telehealth model of service delivery has been evaluated as highly adoptable and acceptable.
Results indicate that the Clean Slate Clinic is a feasible model for enabling participants to achieve their
goals (84%), substantially reducing alcohol intake and reducing psychological distress.
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