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U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion

Effectiveness of Brief Alcohol Interventions in Primary Care Populations

About this resource:

Systematic Review

Source: The Cochrane Collaborative

Last Reviewed: Feburary 2018

Workgroups: Substance Use Workgroup

In this Cochrane systematic review, the Cochrane Collaborative found that brief interventions can reduce harmful drinking better than minimal or no intervention. These interventions were for people who were in primary care settings for reasons other than alcohol treatment. They involved 5 or fewer sessions of advice or lifestyle counseling that lasted less than 60 minutes total. Researchers found that counseling that continues for a longer period of time probably has little additional effect on reducing harmful drinking.

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Objectives related to this resource (2)

Reduce the proportion of people under 21 years who engaged in binge drinking in the past month — SU‑09
Little or no detectable change
Reduce the proportion of people aged 21 years and over who engaged in binge drinking in the past month — SU‑10
LHI label
Little or no detectable change

Suggested Citation

1.

Kaner, E.F.S., Beyer, F.R., Muirhead, C., Campbell, F., Pienaar, E.D., Bertholet, N., Daeppen, J.B., Saunders, J.B. & Burnand, B. (2018). Effectiveness of brief alcohol interventions in primary care populations. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2018 (2). DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD004148.pub4.