Daybreak app more than halves alcohol use in three months
With our funding support, Hello Sunday Morning partnered with the National Drug Research Institute (NDRI) at Curtin University to evaluate the effectiveness of their Daybreak program after three months use.
The Daybreak program is a digital app developed as an intervention to support high-risk drinking individuals to change their relationship with alcohol. Since, 2016 more than 50,000 people have used the Daybreak app, including over 1,200 people who received personalised health coaching through our partnership with Hello Sunday Morning in FY19.
As part of this partnership, the NDRI conducted an evaluation of 793 individuals who used Daybreak and found positive benefits for both lower and higher risk drinkers after three months.
Results included a significant reduction in alcohol consumption per week on average, from 37 drinks to 17 drinks, improvement in psychological distress scores from moderate distress levels to a healthy level, and a reduced number of days that problematic drinking hindered normal daily activities such as work and family commitments.
70 per cent of study participants classed as "probably dependent" more than halved their alcohol consumption while using Daybreak, from 40.8 standard drinks a week to 20.1 standard drinks.
Alcohol consumption among "risky/harmful" drinkers dropped from 22.9 standard drinks a week to 11.9 standard drinks, which is below National Health and Medical Research Council guidelines that recommend no more than 14 drinks a week.
NDRI Senior Research Fellow, Dr Robert Tait, who led the evaluation, said that "while our evaluation only focused on a small group of people over three months, the reductions in alcohol consumption achieved indicate the potential for online interventions to help people with more entrenched alcohol problems, which is particularly significant given the wide potential reach of online interventions."
Our Executive Officer, Amy Tribe, said the results of the research demonstrate the important difference digital health interventions can make to the health and wellbeing of Australians.
"Better sleep, less weight gain, improved relationships and better mental health are all benefits that go hand in hand with a more positive relationship with alcohol so it's great to see organisations like Hello Sunday Morning helping so many Aussies to make positive changes in their lives," she added.
Find out more about the research into Hello Sunday Morning's Daybreak program, opens in a new tab. You can also check out their app, opens in a new tab.
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