EFFECTIVENESS BANK alert. Bulletin 23 May 2012: Crucial British alcohol screening and brief intervention studies

[Mike Ashton]

CRUCIAL BRITISH ALCOHOL SCREENING AND BRIEF INTERVENTION STUDIES

For the future of alcohol screening and brief intervention in Britain, studies do not get more
important than those highlighted in a new bulletin collating the latest additions to the
Effectiveness Bank. Awaited by government before extending the national primary care framework, this
suite of three studies under the SIPS umbrella delivered remarkably consistent findings. Whatever
the setting - primary care, emergency departments or probation - a year later the proportion of
risky drinkers had fallen by 16-17%. And whatever the intervention, it made no substantial
difference; an alcohol advice booklet plus a sentence or two warning the patient about their risky
drinking was not improved on by adding extended and individualised counselling. Do just the minimum,
is the message austerity-hit commissioners might take from the studies, but that would be to
over-read their implications.

Based on factsheets and conference presentations, this preliminary take on the findings will be
updated as the academic analyses emerge. In this bulletin we also take the opportunity to draw
attention to a relevant US guide.

To view the whole bulletin click this link:
http://findings.org.uk/docs/bulletins/Bull_23_05_12.php
or click the links below to view an entry in the bulletin. If clicking does not work, paste the link
in to your web browser address box, being sure to enter the whole address.

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*new* MORE QALYs TO THE POUND FROM BRIEF WARNING IN PRIMARY CARE
GP surgeries are the key site for alcohol screening and brief intervention, potentially capturing a
huge proportion of the population. Here not only did the most minimal intervention cut drinking as
well as more sophisticated alternatives, it also most cost-effectively improved health-related
quality of life.
http://findings.org.uk/count/downloads/download.php?file=McGovern_R_1.txt

*new* EMERGENCY DEPARTMENTS NEED SPECIALIST SUPPORT
From emergency departments, marginal hints of greater gains in quality of life and social cost
reduction from extended counselling, but not enough to overturn the general finding of equivalent
outcomes. What was clear was that departments often cannot do this work without specialist help.
http://findings.org.uk/count/downloads/download.php?file=Drummond_C_11.txt

*new* FROM OFFENDERS ON PROBATION, HINTS OF THE VALUE OF EXTENDED ADVICE
With a relatively heavy drinking caseload, the probation arm of the study broke new ground and
offered the clearest indication of the extra value of a few minutes more structured advice or
counselling in crime and social cost reductions and, at last, in drinking itself - but only
fleetingly among particularly heavy drinking offenders.
http://findings.org.uk/count/downloads/download.php?file=McGovern_R_2.txt

*new* US GUIDE TO EMERGENCY UNIT ALCOHOL SCREENING AND BRIEF ADVICE
Based on research findings, a practical US government guide for emergency departments on how to
plan, implement and monitor a programme to identify risky drinking among their patients and to offer
appropriate advice and referral.
http://findings.org.uk/count/downloads/download.php?file=Higgins_Biddle_J_1.cab

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Effectiveness Bank alerts are provided by Drug and Alcohol Findings (http://findings.org.uk) to
alert you to site updates and recent UK-relevant evaluation studies and reviews of drug/alcohol
interventions. Findings is managed by DrugScope, Alcohol Concern and the National Addiction Centre.
The Effectiveness Bank is supported by Alcohol Research UK.
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