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This paper discusses the link between community music improvisation and the integration of refugees, asylum seekers and local residents, and proposes a new way of thinking about priority-setting in refugee integration and rehabilitation support schemes. Drawing on observations and interviews with an integrated music group in Wales, we explore the effect of participating in structured musical activities and improvisation in weekly meetings, as well as at public performances in community arts events. We observed that embedding improvisation led to four outcomes. It (i) encouraged individual unscripted performances, instilling confidence in solo performance, (ii) gave individuals who had experienced displacement and marginalisation a chance to lead in a safe, performative space, (iii) gave other participants a chance to follow and accompany this piece instrumentally or vocally, drawing on their own cultural traditions and thus creating innovative cross-cultural pieces; and (iv) provided participants and audience members with a unique and unrepeated, uplifting experience that triggered their imaginations, and prompted questions and further discussion between participants. These findings suggest that the combination of structured musical activity and improvisation may help to foster a sense of wellbeing and social inclusion, shift power dynamics, and create a space for cross-cultural dialogue. These unique outcomes highlight how music can create a community of people from seemingly completely different locations or situations. Furthermore, the well-established Welsh choral traditions and local community arts provided a receptive environment for this diverse group of performers. Therefore, it was not just the musical activities but their connection to the wider local community arts scene that delivered these individual, collective and wider societal benefits.

Background Because of the shortage of health professionals in Chilean primary care, Health Technicians (HT) are providing Brief Interventions (BI) for risky alcohol consumption. We compared the efficacy of two AUDIT-linked interventions provided by HTs: an informative leaflet and a BI plus leaflet. Methods This is a parallel-group randomized controlled trial with 1:1 randomization. Participants were identified through screening with the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) at five primary care centers between March 2016 and July 2017. People older than 18 years at intermediate-risk (AUDIT score 8 to 15, inclusive) were randomized to receive either an HT-delivered BI (n = 174) or an informative leaflet (n = 168). Only data from participants (n = 294) who completed the 6-month assessment were analyzed. The leaflet was delivered without further advice. It contains alcohol consumption limits, a change planner, and strategies to decrease drinking. The BI was a 5-min discussion on the leaflet´s content plus normative feedback, tailored information on alcohol and health, and a change plan. The change in the AUDIT risk category six months after randomization (primary outcome) was compared among groups with a Chi-squared test. Changes in the secondary outcomes, which were scores on the AUDIT and the AUDIT´s consumption items (AUDIT-C), were compared with T-tests. Mixed-effects linear models adjusted for potential confounders. Outcome adjudicators were blinded to group assignment. Results At 6-month follow-up, low-risk alcohol consumption was observed in 119 (80%) participants in the BI group, and in 103 (71%) in the leaflet group, with no difference among groups ($$\chi 2$$ χ 2 [1, N = 294] = 2.6, p = 0.1; adjusted odds ratio 0.6; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.34, 1.05). The mean AUDIT score decreased by 5.76 points in the BI group, and by 5.07 in the leaflet group, which represents a 0.86 AUDIT point reduction attributable to the BI (secondary outcome) (T = 2.03, p = 0.043; adjusted mean difference 0.86 CI 0.06, 1.66). Conclusions The AUDIT-linked BI delivered by HTs was not associated with a greater reduction of risky alcohol consumption than an informative leaflet. Delivering a leaflet could be more efficient than a BI when provided by HTs; however, more research on the effectiveness of the leaflet is needed. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02642757 (December 30, 2015) https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02642757.

Background: Harmful alcohol use is a leading cause of global disability and death. However, increased detection and brief intervention capacity of more severe alcohol use disorders has not been accompanied by increased availability of treatment services. Incorporating treatment for such disorders into primary care is of paramount importance for improving access and health outcomes. This study aims to estimate the effectiveness of a Brief Motivational Treatment (BMT) applied in primary care for treatment of these disorders. Methods: A parallel-group, single-blinded, severity-stratified, randomized clinical trial will test the superiority of BMT over enhanced usual care. Eligible participants will be those seeking treatment and who fulfill DSM-V criteria for alcohol use disorder and criteria for harmful alcohol use. With an estimated a loss to follow-up of 20%, a total of 182 participants will be recruited and equally randomized to each treatment group. The intervention group will receive an adaptation of the motivational enhancement therapy, as manualized in Project MATCH. This treatment consists of four 45-min sessions provided by a general psychologist with at least 3 years of primary care experience. The primary outcome is the change from baseline in the drinks per drinking day during the last 90 days, which will be captured using the Timeline Follow Back method. Secondary outcomes will describe the changes in alcohol use pattern, motivational status, and severity of the disorder. All participants will be analyzed according to the group they were allocated, regardless of the treatment actually received. Mean differences (MD) will be computed for continuous outcomes and relative risks (RR) and RR reductions (RRR) for dichotomous results. Linear models will deliver the subgroup analyses. Missingness is assumed to be associated with the baseline alcohol use pattern and severity, so a multiple imputation method will be used to handle missing data. Discussion: This trial aims to test the superiority of BMT over enhanced usual care with a reasonable superiority margin, over which the BMT could be further considered for incorporation into PC in Chile. Its pragmatic approach ultimately aims to inform policymakers about the benefit of including a brief psychosocial treatment into PC. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04345302. Registered on

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