Brief intervention in primary care settings. A primary treatment method for at-risk, problem, and dependent drinkers. Alcohol Res Health

Abstract

Primary health care providers identify and treat many patients who are at risk for or are already experiencing alcohol-related problems. Brief interventions—counseling delivered by primary care providers in the context of several standard office visits—can be a successful treatment approach for many of these patients. Numerous trials involving a variety of patient populations have indicated that brief interventions can reduce patients ’ drinking levels, regardless of the patients ’ ages and gender. In clinical practice, brief interventions can help reduce the drinking levels of nondependent drinkers who drink more than the recommended limits, facilitate therapy and abstinence in patients receiving pharmacotherapy, and enhance the effectiveness of assessment and treatment referral in patients who do not respond to brief interventions alone. Despite the evidence for their usefulness, however, brief interventions for alcohol-related problems have not yet been widely implemented in primary care settings. KEY WORDS: primary health care; intervention; risk factors; problematic AOD (alcohol and other drug) use; AOD dependence; amount of AOD use; treatment outcome; AOD abstinence; drug therapy; psychological counseling; treatment barriers; physician; AOD education; health care delivery; health care cost; social cost of AODU (alcohol and other drug use); literature review Most Americans consume alcohol at least occasionally, and results from the Nationa