Alcohol Screening and Brief Intervention

This virtual issue on screening and brief intervention brings together a collection of recent papers on alcohol screening and brief intervention in different settings and populations. These include rural hospitals, clinical psychiatric populations, methadone maintained patients and in Aboriginal community health services. We present recent research looking at the experience and training of health care providers in doing this work, and examine new possibilities for screening and brief intervention including investigation of pharmacy customers’ attitudes towards pharmacist delivering screening and brief intervention. The virtual issue also includes systematic and comprehensive reviews and editorials addressing both the development of the screening and brief intervention literature over time and key research questions and contemporary issues in interpreting the strength of the evidence available in this body of research.

Brief intervention content matters
Jim McCambridge

Interventions for alcohol and drug problems in outpatient settings: A systematic review
Judith M. Watson, Debra Fayter, Noreen Mdege, Lisa Stirk, Amanda J. Sowden and Christine Godfrey

Predictors of study setting (primary care vs. hospital setting) among studies of the effectiveness of brief interventions among heavy alcohol users: A systematic review
Noreen Dadirai Mdege and Judith Watson

Developing, evaluating and implementing alcohol brief interventions in Europe
NICK HEATHER

Brief alcohol screening in a clinical psychiatric population: Special attention needed
CHRISTINA NEHLIN, ANDERS FREDRIKSSON and LENNART JANSSON

Three hours of training improve psychiatric staff's self-perceived knowledge and attitudes toward problem-drinking patients
CHRISTINA NEHLIN, ANDERS FREDRIKSSON, LEIF GRÖNBLADH and LENNART JANSSON

Brief interventions are effective in reducing alcohol consumption in opiate-dependent methadone-maintained patients: Results from an implementation study
CATHERINE D. DARKER, BRION P. SWEENEY, HAYTHAM O. EL HASSAN, BOBBY P. SMYTH, JO-HANNA H. IVERS and JOE M. BARRY

Embedding routine alcohol screening and brief interventions in a rural general hospital
PETER FAHY, GARY CROTON and STEVE VOOGT

Risky drinking among community pharmacy customers in New Zealand and their attitudes towards pharmacist screening and brief interventions
JANIE SHERIDAN, JOANNA STEWART, ROS SMART and ROSS MCCORMICK

Training and tailored outreach support to improve alcohol screening and brief intervention in Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services
Anton Clifford, Anthony Shakeshaft and Catherine Deans

How and when health-care practitioners in Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services deliver alcohol screening and brief intervention, and why they don't: A qualitative study
ANTON CLIFFORD, ANTHONY SHAKESHAFT and CATHERINE DEANS

Evidence-based alcohol screening and brief intervention in Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services: Experiences of health-care providers
ANTON CLIFFORD and ANTHONY SHAKESHAFT

Brief interventions: good in theory but weak in practice
ANN M. ROCHE, TOBY FREEMAN