Internet-delivered Therapy for Alcohol Misuse: Investigating Patient Preference for Self-guided or Guided Treatment

Change in preceding week alcohol consumption in terms of the total number of standard drinks consumed on each day during the previous 7 days.

Change in preceding week alcohol consumption in terms of the total number of heavy drinking days during the previous 7 days.

Change in alcohol-related problems and behaviours measured by total AUDIT score which can range from 0 to 40. Greater score indicates greater alcohol problems (worse outcome)

Change in alcohol craving as measured by a total score ranging between 0 to 30. Higher scores indicate greater craving (worse outcome).

Change in confidence in resisting drinking urges in 8 situations rated from 0 to 100, rendering a sum score of 0-800. Higher scores indicate greater confidence (better outcome). There are 8 subscales, one for each item, assessed on a scale of 0-100. Thus, each subscale has a sum score of 0-100-. A higher score indicates greater confidence on the subscale.

Change in total GAD-7 anxiety score which can range from 0 to 21. Higher scores indicate greater anxiety (worse outcome).

Change in total PHQ-9 score which can range from 0 to 27. Higher scores indicate greater depression (worse outcome).

Change in three scores assessing functional impairment in three domains: 1) work/school, 2) social and 3) family life (each domain score ranges from 0 to 10, rendering a sum score of 0-30). Higher score indicates greater ability on the specified domain score (better outcome). Each domain score (subscale) renders a sum score of 0-10.

Measures the participant's thoughts and feelings about the treatment and the treatment's effectiveness in reducing participant's symptoms and increasing participant's functioning. Consists of 6 items. The first three of these and the 5th render a score of 1- 9. The other three questions render a score of 0-10. There are two subscales; 1) treatment credibility and 2) treatment expectancy. The first three questions are summed to render a score on the credibility subscale (0-27). The last three questions, the expectancy subscale, render a score of 0-29.

Measures participants' motivation to change their drinking behaviours and determines at which stage of the Stages of Change model they are in (precontemplation, contemplation, or action). There is no sum score. Instead the items related to each stage are summed, and the individual is allocated to the stage that has the greatest score out of these three. (For more information about the scoring of this instrument, see Heather & Hönekopp, 2009).

This questionnaire will gather feedback from participants on perceived helpfulness and any negative effects experienced by participants during treatment. This brief questionnaire has been developed by the research team and does not have a sum score.

The program website will record when patients access each lesson, providing a way to calculate the proportion of patients who complete each lesson and treatment overall.