PMID: 9177059Apr 1, 1997Paper

Alcohol interventions: do the best things come in small packages?

Addiction
D C Drummond

Abstract

Several extensive reviews have highlighted the effectiveness of brief alcohol interventions. The same reviews were pessimistic about the role of more intensive, specialist treatments. It is argued here that the research evidence should be interpreted with caution. There are problems of generalizability of the research, and studies focusing on brief interventions in the primary health care field are largely not comparable with clinical trials conducted in the specialist setting. The efficacy of brief interventions as a routine mass intervention approach has been exaggerated. Even after extensive research, little is known of the effective ingredients and the most effective methods of delivery. Reviews of brief interventions have been overly selective, and meta analysis in this area is problematic. It is argued that such reviews lead to overgeneralization and turn attention away from promising specialist treatment approaches. More research is needed into identifying the target group most likely to benefit from brief interventions, cost effectiveness, and into shared care and stepped care approaches, before embarking on a major shift in treatment policy towards brief interventions.

References

Nov 1, 1991·Journal of Studies on Alcohol·H HolderA V Rubonis
Oct 1, 1991·British Journal of Addiction·K M FillmoreM T Temple
Mar 9, 1990·JAMA : the Journal of the American Medical Association·K Dickersin
Sep 24, 1994·BMJ : British Medical Journal·H J Eysenck
Nov 1, 1993·Addiction·W R Miller
Mar 1, 1993·Addiction·T H BienJ S Tonigan

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Citations

Feb 11, 2005·The European Journal of Health Economics : HEPAC : Health Economics in Prevention and Care·Matilde P Machado
Oct 16, 1999·International Journal of Nursing Studies·H E Watson
Jul 31, 1999·Drug and Alcohol Dependence·I B Crome
Jul 20, 2002·Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment·Grace Chang
Aug 13, 2003·Substance Abuse : Official Publication of the Association for Medical Education and Research in Substance Abuse·Ruth A Gassman
Dec 5, 2000·Alcoholism, Clinical and Experimental Research·M AaltoP Sillanaukee
Oct 1, 2005·Journal of Social Work Practice in the Addictions·Ruth A Gassman, Constance Weisner
Nov 3, 2009·The British Journal of Psychiatry : the Journal of Mental Science·Colin DrummondTimothy Peters
Aug 24, 1999·Journal of Advanced Nursing·H E Watson

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