Cargando…
Choosing internet-based treatment for problematic alcohol use—why, when and how? Users’ experiences of treatment online
BACKGROUND: Internet-based treatment has emerged as a cost-effective option for reaching people who for different reasons are not reached by traditional treatment. Internet-based treatment for problematic alcohol use, specifically, has been found to show results on par with other forms of treatment....
Autores principales: | , |
---|---|
Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
BioMed Central
2020
|
Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7325222/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32600456 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13722-020-00196-5 |
_version_ | 1783552108625133568 |
---|---|
author | Ekström, Veronica Johansson, Magnus |
author_facet | Ekström, Veronica Johansson, Magnus |
author_sort | Ekström, Veronica |
collection | PubMed |
description | BACKGROUND: Internet-based treatment has emerged as a cost-effective option for reaching people who for different reasons are not reached by traditional treatment. Internet-based treatment for problematic alcohol use, specifically, has been found to show results on par with other forms of treatment. However, in-depth knowledge of users’ experiences is required to understand what works, and what needs further development. The aim of this study is to investigate the help-seeking motives among users of an internet-based service for problematic alcohol use, as well as the users’ experiences of the support available through the service. METHOD: The study consists of a thematic analysis of interviews with 38 former users of the internet-based intervention Alkoholhjälpen. RESULTS: The analysis shows that health and relationship factors, as well as feelings of shame, were important motives for the users’ decisions to reduce their drinking. Availability and anonymity seem to have been important reasons for choosing internet-based support. The different treatment components, i.e. ICBT program, therapist support and discussion forum, were each perceived as helpful by some users but not by others. Treatment components were described as more useful when users were able to personally identify with the content, and when it helped them reflect on their own alcohol consumption. CONCLUSIONS: There are several aspects that are relevant, beyond the comparison between components, if we want to understand what works and for whom in internet-based treatment. Internet-based treatment services should be generous in terms of options for the users. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-7325222 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2020 |
publisher | BioMed Central |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-73252222020-06-30 Choosing internet-based treatment for problematic alcohol use—why, when and how? Users’ experiences of treatment online Ekström, Veronica Johansson, Magnus Addict Sci Clin Pract Research BACKGROUND: Internet-based treatment has emerged as a cost-effective option for reaching people who for different reasons are not reached by traditional treatment. Internet-based treatment for problematic alcohol use, specifically, has been found to show results on par with other forms of treatment. However, in-depth knowledge of users’ experiences is required to understand what works, and what needs further development. The aim of this study is to investigate the help-seeking motives among users of an internet-based service for problematic alcohol use, as well as the users’ experiences of the support available through the service. METHOD: The study consists of a thematic analysis of interviews with 38 former users of the internet-based intervention Alkoholhjälpen. RESULTS: The analysis shows that health and relationship factors, as well as feelings of shame, were important motives for the users’ decisions to reduce their drinking. Availability and anonymity seem to have been important reasons for choosing internet-based support. The different treatment components, i.e. ICBT program, therapist support and discussion forum, were each perceived as helpful by some users but not by others. Treatment components were described as more useful when users were able to personally identify with the content, and when it helped them reflect on their own alcohol consumption. CONCLUSIONS: There are several aspects that are relevant, beyond the comparison between components, if we want to understand what works and for whom in internet-based treatment. Internet-based treatment services should be generous in terms of options for the users. BioMed Central 2020-06-29 2020 /pmc/articles/PMC7325222/ /pubmed/32600456 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13722-020-00196-5 Text en © The Author(s) 2020 Open AccessThis article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data. |
spellingShingle | Research Ekström, Veronica Johansson, Magnus Choosing internet-based treatment for problematic alcohol use—why, when and how? Users’ experiences of treatment online |
title | Choosing internet-based treatment for problematic alcohol use—why, when and how? Users’ experiences of treatment online |
title_full | Choosing internet-based treatment for problematic alcohol use—why, when and how? Users’ experiences of treatment online |
title_fullStr | Choosing internet-based treatment for problematic alcohol use—why, when and how? Users’ experiences of treatment online |
title_full_unstemmed | Choosing internet-based treatment for problematic alcohol use—why, when and how? Users’ experiences of treatment online |
title_short | Choosing internet-based treatment for problematic alcohol use—why, when and how? Users’ experiences of treatment online |
title_sort | choosing internet-based treatment for problematic alcohol use—why, when and how? users’ experiences of treatment online |
topic | Research |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7325222/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32600456 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13722-020-00196-5 |
work_keys_str_mv | AT ekstromveronica choosinginternetbasedtreatmentforproblematicalcoholusewhywhenandhowusersexperiencesoftreatmentonline AT johanssonmagnus choosinginternetbasedtreatmentforproblematicalcoholusewhywhenandhowusersexperiencesoftreatmentonline |