Change

CHANGE – Alcohol abuse during
humanitarian crises

Terms of implementation

July 2020 - June 2025

Registration for participation in the study

The purpose of the project

Promote the provision of mental health services and psychosocial support to the population, affected by the military conflict, by developing and researching the effectiveness of psychological intervention, aimed at solving problems caused by alcohol abuse and psychological problems (anxiety symptoms, depression, PTSD).

Partners

The project is financed by the partnership of the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) and the Welcome Trust Foundation and is implemented in Ukraine by the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, GO “Words help” jointly with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

Also, partner of the project in m. University named after Dnipro. Alfred Nobel.

Main activities

  1. A review of the scientific literature to identify evidence-based strategies and methods of psychotherapy, related to alcohol abuse, which can be integrated into PM + (approx. WHO intervention problem management plus); conducting quality research in local communities, in order to obtain information specific to the local culture and mentality, necessary for the development of a new psychosocial intervention
  2. Adapt the intervention to the local cultural context and study the feasibility, admissibility, perceived efficacy and previous effects of PM + / AUD
  3. Evaluate the effectiveness of PM + / AUD using two randomized controlled trials
  4. Evaluate the cost-effectiveness of PM + / AUD using two randomized controlled trials
  5. Investigate the process of implementing a new psychosocial intervention and identify, describe and explain the mechanisms, which promote or inhibit the introduction and adoption of PM + / AUD as consumers, and service providers
  6. Explore the potential for widespread PM implementation + / AUD in Uganda and Ukraine

Pilot study of the CHANGE intervention in Ukraine (September 2023 - December 2023),

What is the purpose of this study?

The purpose of this study is to study that, how best to support men affected by the war in Ukraine, who are under stress and consume excessive amounts of alcohol. The program is aimed at helping men, who suffered from the war, in particular internally displaced persons (HPE), veterans and men, who live in war zones or near districts, that were subjected to military attacks. This program can only help you, if you are under stress and drink alcohol. If you do not drink alcohol, then this program, will not be useful for you and you should not participate, because it will not help you cope with your problems.

Thinking too much, having high levels of stress and drinking alcohol can all be very common among people, who experienced the direct impact of the war on their lives. even in high-income countries on average about, who face high levels of stress and consume excessive amounts of alcohol, often do not receive that help, which they need. We have developed a new assistance program for men, who suffered from the war, and also have a high level of stress and drink alcohol. This program is called CHANGE. We think, that participating in this program can help people cope with high levels of stress, emotional problems and problematic habits associated with alcohol consumption. Through this study, we would like to find out, does this program help people in similar life circumstances and how can we improve the program, to help others. If you agree to participate in this study, You will be randomly assigned to one of two groups. Group 1 will receive information about that once, how to reduce alcohol consumption, a group 2 will receive as information about reducing alcohol consumption, and will participate in the 6-week assistance program. This will be decided randomly and we cannot guarantee, in which of the two groups will you be. Drinking habits and various mental health indicators will be measured for all participants at baseline and again throughout 3 months. Changes in indicators for group members 2 will be compared with changes in indicators of group members 1, to determine the level of effectiveness of the program. As part of the study, some people will also be asked to take part in qualitative interviews, to learn about their experience of participating in the program.

Where will the research take place? 

The study will be conducted in Kyiv and Dnipro and we invite all men, who live in these two cities, as well as those who have suffered from the war and have problems with it, who experience stress and consume excessive amounts of alcohol, contact us and find out, whether they can participate in the study. In every city, where the research will be conducted, we have offices/centers, located in places easily accessible by public transport, with the possibility of using bomb shelters in the event of an air raid or other need for shelter. Meetings with researchers and consultants will be held in the same places.

What are the possible benefits of participating in the study??

If you decide to participate in the program, You will contribute to our understanding of that, what needs to be done to improve the program, which will contribute to the improvement of well-being of men, victims of the war in Ukraine. teachers of leading higher education institutions from all over Ukraine on the peculiarities of teaching such a course, we expect, that the program will be useful to people, who have problem drinking habits and experience high levels of stress and other psychosocial problems. You can also discover, that you will learn important skills for managing your drinking and maintaining mental health.

Voluntary Participation and Privacy 

Participation is completely voluntary. If you decide to participate, You reserve the right not to answer any questions, which are inconvenient for you. You can also change your mind at any time and opt out of the program.

All collected information about participants, will be kept strictly confidential. pay attention, that we and all researchers, who are working on this study, we guarantee privacy and confidentiality of all data, documents and results, related to research.

Compensation and reimbursement: 

We follow the guidelines of the ethics committee and will reimburse participants for their time spent during the initial evaluation and evaluation of the results at the end of the project. At each of these evaluation stages, participants will receive a gift card for 250 hryvnias to the Silpo store or 250 hryvnias to a mobile account. To the participants will not be reimbursed costs for individual meetings, which they will attend.

Who sponsors and finances the research?

The CHANGE project is funded by the NIHR-Wellcome Global Health Research Partnership. London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) is the sponsor of this study. In Ukraine, LSHTM cooperates with the National University "Kyiv-Mohyla Academy" to implement research (NaUKMA) and NGO "Words help".

To participate in the study, please, register using the link: https://forms.office.com/e/ZqWfZ8ymad

Or call:  +38 050 222 03 10 (viber, telegram)

Expert group of the project

Ukraine

Vita Kachai

manager of the CHANGE project in Ukraine

Quincy Moore

project director, Center for mental health of NaUKMA

Vladimir Kharitonenko

head of NGO "Words help"

Sergiy Bogdanov

leading researcher, Head of the Mental Health Center of NaUKMA

Andriy Karachevsky

psychiatrist, narcologist of the Mental Health Center of the National Academy of Medical Sciences

Marina Norova

trainer and supervisor of the CHANGE research project, psychologist, addiction consultant, psychotherapist at the Center for Trauma Therapy “Integration”

Ksenia Brukhovetska

trainer and supervisor of the CHANGE research project, psychologist, psychotherapist, trainer-methodist, supervisor of the Mental Health Center of the National Academy of Medical Sciences

Oksana Bayer

researcher, trainer and supervisor of the CHANGE research project, Associate Professor of the Department of Innovative Technologies in Pedagogy, of psychology and social work of Alfred Nobel University, m. Dnipro.

Daryna Bystrytska

Specialist in monitoring and evaluation of. Kyiv

Natalia Hrysenko

monitoring and assessment specialist. Dnipro; practical psychologist, Associate Professor of the Department of Pedagogical and Age Psychology of Dnipro National University named after Oles Honchar, Associate Professor of the Department of Innovative Technologies in Pedagogy, of psychology and social work of Alfred Nobel University

Alyona Pastukhova

coordinator of the monitoring and evaluation team, a specialist in qualitative interviews

Catherine Garbar

research assistant, a specialist in conducting qualitative interviews

Veronika Ryzhakova

research assistant and specialist in conducting sessions of enhanced usual care (EUC) m. Kyiv

Anna
Garagula

a specialist in conducting sessions of enhanced routine care (EUC) m. Dnipro, student of the Faculty of Psychology of the Alfred Nobel University

United Kingdom

Robert Bayard

leading researcher of the project, Professor at the LSHTM Global Mental Health Center

Karl May

Professor of Medical Sociology LSHTM

Helena Weiss

Professor of LSHTM Epidemiology

Daniela Four

researcher, Lecturer in the Master's Program in Global Mental Health LSHTM

Daniel Montjiardi

CHANGE project manager

Uganda

Witze Tol

Director of Global Mental Health Programs, HealthRight International

Publications

Drove, D., Bogdanov, S., Tol, W., Nadkarni, A., & Roberts, B. (2021). Problem Management Plus and Alcohol (PM+A): A New Intervention to Address Alcohol Misuse and Psychological Distress Among Conflict-Affected Populations. Intervention, 19(1), 141. https://doi.org/10.4103/INTV.INTV_27_20

Massazza, A., Drove, D. C., Bogdanov, S., Tol, W. A., Roberts, B., Nadkarni, A., Akudrabo, G., Skovgaard Andersen, L., Dumchev, K., Karachevskyy, A., The highlands, E., Koss, K., Moore, Q., & May, C. R. (2021). A Complex Intervention for Alcohol Misuse Among Conflict-Affected Populations in Uganda and Ukraine: Study Protocol for the Qualitative Components in the CHANGE Trial. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 20. https://doi.org/10.1177/16094069211063031

Project contacts

On issues of cooperation:
changeukraine@ukma.edu.ua

Regarding the referral of participants to participate in the study:
Larisa Mykyton l.mykyton@ukma.edu.ua

partners

Make an appointment for a consultation