BACKGROUND AND AIM Reducing alcohol misuse by male prisoners is an important global issue. Control of drinking behaviour could be a useful target for intervention in this population and locus of control could be a causal factor in this. We aimed to assess the effect of a clinical psychologist-facilitated group intervention on male prisoners' locus of control of drinking behaviour. DESIGN A two-arm, single-site, open, randomised controlled trial. SETTING A category B, local training prison in South Wales, housing nearly 800 mostly sentenced men. PARTICIPANTS Prisoners serving under two years who met inclusion criteria for pre-imprisonment alcohol misuse, alone or with drug misuse. A total of 119 were allocated to the intervention arm and 119 to the control arm; 104 and 87 respectively completed the post-randomisation baseline interview and 68 and 60 completed a second interview about 4 weeks later, respectively after intervention or treatment as usual (TAU) alone. INTERVENTION Nine clinical psychologist-facilitated groups in the prison over three weeks. Range of participants per session was 1-7, with 3-5 most usual. MEASURES The primary outcome was Locus of Control of Behaviour (LCB); secondary outcomes included mental state generally (Comprehensive Psychiatric Rating Scale/CPRS) and specifically (Beck Depression Inventory/BDI). An integral process evaluation was conducted. FINDINGS LCB scores decreased during the study, but without significant intervention effect (-1.7 (95% CI -5.2 to 1.8), p=0.334). Change among completers in the control group was from a mean score of 37.4 (standard deviation [SD] 10.0) to 33.7 (SD 11.7) and in the intervention group from 37.4 (11.6) to 31.9 (11.8). Secondary outcomes, including change in mental state, did not differ between arms, but 686 (64%) sessions were lost, most because of 'prison issues'. CONCLUSIONS A clinical psychologist-facilitated group intervention did not have a statistically significant effect on sense of control of drinking behaviour among men with pre-imprisonment alcohol misuse serving under two years in a South Wales prison. The study proved coterminous, however, with 40% prison staff cuts which seem likely to have contributed to the high loss of group sessions and possibly overwhelmed any treatment effect. Intervention completion failures, previously cited as harmful, had no effect here, so the trial should be repeated when prison climate improves. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST None for any of the authors.

中文翻译：

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一项旨在增加酒精滥用短期（男性）囚犯 (GASP) 饮酒控制范围的团体心理干预随机对照试验

背景和目的 减少男性囚犯滥用酒精是一个重要的全球问题。控制饮酒行为可能是干预这一人群的有用目标，而控制点可能是其中的一个因果因素。我们旨在评估临床心理学家推动的团体干预对男性囚犯饮酒行为控制点的影响。设计 一项双臂、单点、开放、随机对照试验。设置 A 类 B，南威尔士的当地培训监狱，关押着近 800 名大部分被判刑的男子。参与者 服刑两年以下、符合入狱前酒精滥用、单独或滥用药物的纳入标准的囚犯。总共有 119 名被分配到干预组，119 名被分配到控制组；分别有 104 和 87 人完成了随机化后的基线访谈，68 人和 60 人分别在大约 4 周后完成了第二次访谈，分别是在干预或常规治疗 (TAU) 之后。干预 在三周内，监狱中有九个临床心理学家协助的小组。每节的参与者范围是 1-7 人，最常见的是 3-5 人。测量 主要结果是行为控制点 (LCB)；次要结果包括一般的精神状态（综合精神病学评定量表/CPRS），特别是（贝克抑郁量表/BDI）。进行了整体工艺评估。结果 LCB 评分在研究期间下降，但没有显着的干预效果（-1.7（95% CI -5.2 至 1.8），p=0.334）。对照组完成者之间的变化来自平均得分 37.4（标准差 [SD] 10。0) 到 33.7 (SD 11.7) 和干预组从 37.4 (11.6) 到 31.9 (11.8)。次要结果，包括精神状态的变化，在两组之间没有差异，但 686 (64%) 个会话丢失，大部分是因为“监狱问题”。结论 临床心理学家协助的小组干预对在南威尔士监狱服刑不到两年的监禁前酒精滥用男性的饮酒行为控制感没有统计学意义的影响。然而，该研究证明是相互关联的，40% 的监狱工作人员被削减，这似乎可能导致小组会议的大量流失，并可能压倒任何治疗效果。干预完成失败，以前被认为是有害的，在这里没有影响，所以当监狱环境好转时应该重复审判。