Should brief interventions in primary care address alcohol problems more strongly?

Brief interventions have well-established small effects on alcohol consumption among hazardous and harmful drinkers in primary care, and national large-scale programmes are being implemented in many countries for public health reasons.

This paper examines data from reviews and draws upon older brief intervention studies and recent developments in the literature on motivational interviewing to consider the capacity of brief interventions to benefit those with problems, including those with severe problems.

Effects on alcohol problems have been shown much less consistently, and evidence cannot be claimed to be strong for any outcomes other than reduced consumption. Combinations of advice and motivational interviewing are a promising target for evaluation in trials, and more detailed studies of the conduct of brief interventions are needed.

We propose that brief interventions in primary care may be more effective if they offer appropriate content in a person-centred manner, addressing patient concerns more directly.