Adding psychologist's intervention to physicians' advice to problem drinkers in the outpatient clinic

To test the effectiveness of a brief psychological intervention for problem drinking among outpatients in a hospital setting.

Over a period of 3 years physicians screened patients who visited an outpatient clinic for general internal medicine for problem drinking. Of the 4728 patients screened, 284 (6%) scored positive on problem drinking of whom 123 participated in the study. They received a computerized baseline assessment and were randomly allocated to a brief psychosocial intervention given by a psychologist (Dutch version of W. R. Millers' Drinker's Check-Up) (n = 61) or to 'care as usual' (n = 62). They were followed up at 6 months. The outcome measures were alcohol consumption and the increase in motivation to reduce alcohol consumption.

Most patients reduced their alcohol consumption over time, but no differences were found between the intervention and control groups. A slightly, but not significantly, larger proportion of patients who received the intervention increased their motivation to change.

No conclusive evidence was found for the effectiveness of adding a brief psychological intervention to the physician's advice for problem drinking among outpatients in a hospital setting.