Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2018;5(2):265-273.
doi: 10.1007/s40429-018-0198-7. Epub 2018 May 3.

Brief Interventions in Primary Care: an Evidence Overview of Practitioner and Digital Intervention Programmes

Fiona Beyer  1 , Ellen Lynch  1 , Eileen Kaner  1
Affiliations
Review

Brief Interventions in Primary Care: an Evidence Overview of Practitioner and Digital Intervention Programmes

Fiona Beyer et al. Curr Addict Rep. 2018.

Abstract

Purpose of the review: Excessive drinking is a major public health problem that adversely affects all parts of the population. Previous systematic reviews and meta-analyses have reported that brief interventions delivered in primary care are effective at reducing alcohol consumption, albeit with small effect sizes that have decreased over time. This review summarises the updated evidence base on practitioner and digitally delivered brief interventions.

Recent findings: Using Cochrane methodology, 69 primary care brief intervention trials (33,642 participants) and 57 digital intervention trials (34,390 participants) were identified. Meta-analyses showed both approaches significantly reduced consumption compared to controls. Five trials (390 participants) compared practitioner-delivered and digital interventions directly with no evidence of difference in outcomes at follow-up.

Summary: Brief interventions have the potential to impact at both individual and population levels. Future research should focus on optimising components and delivery mechanisms, and on alcohol-related harms. Digital interventions may overcome some of the implementation barriers faced by practitioner-delivered interventions.

Keywords: Alcohol drinking; Alcohol problems; Brief interventions; Emergency care; Primary care; SBIRT.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Compliance with Ethical StandardsThe authors declare that they have no competing interests.This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Meta-analysis of practitioner-delivered brief intervention versus minimal or no intervention. Figure is reproduced from [••]
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Meta-analysis of digital brief intervention versus minimal or no intervention. Figure is reproduced from [••]
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. •• World Health Organization. Global status report on alcohol and health 2014. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2014. Identifies alcohol consumption as a key risk factor for disease and injury highlighting the need for effective treatment and intervention work. Provides an overview of alcohol consumption behaviour,health consequences and policy responses contextualising alcohol intervention work.
    1. Saunders JB, Aasland OG, Babor TF, de la Fuente JR, Grant M. Development of the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT): WHO collaborative project on early detection of persons with harmful alcohol consumption—II. Addiction. 1993;88(6):791–804. doi: 10.1111/j.1360-0443.1993.tb02093.x. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Rehm J, Mathers C, Popova S, Thavorncharoensap M, Teerawattananon Y, Patra J. Global burden of disease and injury and economic cost attributable to alcohol use and alcohol-use disorders. Lancet. 2009;373(9682):2223–2233. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(09)60746-7. - DOI - PubMed
    1. World Health Organization . Public health problems caused by harmful use of alcohol. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2005.
    1. Geijer-Simpson E, McGovern R, Kaner E. Alcohol prevention and treatment: interventions for hazardous, harmful, and dependent drinkers. In: Hilliard ME, Riekert KA, Ockene JK, Pbert L, editors. The handbook of health behavior change. 5. New York: Springer; 2018.

LinkOut - more resources