PROACT+F Hub Platform to Increase Access to Measurement-Based Care in Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment

Measurement-based care, which involves the routine collection of person-reported outcome measures (PROMs) and the delivery of feedback, improves communication and shared decision-making between clinicians and clients, and improves treatment outcomes. However, the implementation of PROMs and feedback into alcohol and other drug (AOD) treatment settings remains limited. Low client completion rates and treatment attrition are major barriers to implementation. Also, little is known about which clients are most likely to complete PROMs or the conditions under which clinicians and clients engage with feedback.

Professor Leanne Hides and researchers from the National Centre for Youth Substance Use Research (NCYSUR) have developed the Person-Reported Outcome Assessment, Continuous Tracking + Feedback (PROACT+F) platform, to support the routine collection of PROMs and delivery of personalised feedback in AOD services.

This secure platform enables services and clinicians to select and distribute valid and reliable measures of substance use, mental health and functioning directly to clients at service entry and follow-up. The PROACT+F Hub automatically administers, scores, interprets and provides visually engaging personalised feedback and progress charts to clients and clinicians. Feedback is supported by psychoeducational factsheets and help-seeking resources. At the service level, PROACT+F Hub provides a centralised platform for managing PROM assessments and real-time data, including dashboards to monitor implementation and support outcome reporting.

A previous version of PROACT+F Hub, the QuikFix webapp, has collected PROMs and delivered personalised feedback and progress charts on AOD use, mental health and functioning to more than 30,000 people accessing treatment from Lives Lived Well, a large non-government AOD treatment provider in QLD and NSW. A recent stepped-wedge cluster randomised trial (n = 7,403) evaluated the impact of service-wide PROMs and feedback training for staff and the direct delivery of feedback to clients. PROM completion rates increased from 28% to 39% at one-month follow-up and from 15% to 20% at three-month follow-up. Clients who attended at least one treatment session, received baseline feedback from or were introduced to progress charts by their clinician, reviewed their own baseline feedback or attended treatment after the PROM was due were more likely to complete PROMs at one- and three-months follow-up.

Together, these findings suggest that clients are willing and able to self-complete PROMs at service entry and follow-up. Training clinicians in PROM assessment and feedback, alongside providing clients with direct access to personalised feedback, can improve PROM completion rates. PROACT+F Hub provides a scalable and sustainable approach to implementing measurement-based care in routine AOD treatment.

PROACT+F Hub is freely available to AOD treatment services across Australia. For further information, contact NCYSUR researcher Tara Alcorn or email proact-f@uq.edu.au.

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