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Brief Intervention

What is brief intervention?

Brief intervention is a common topic of request from workers seeking information from DrugInfo Clearinghouse. The following provides a package of information to assist anyone looking for guidelines, reports, recent research and upcoming events.

Brief intervention involves intervention at an early stage of a person’s alcohol or drug use to prevent the development of serious drug problems later on. There is strong evidence for the effectiveness of using brief intervention for alcohol and tobacco, and the evidence for its effectiveness for other substances is growing. Although brief interventions generally are not designed to treat serious substance abuse dependence, they can be a very valuable instrument for encouraging people into more intensive treatment (Henry S, Humeniuk R, Ali R, Monteiro M & Poznyak V 2003 Brief Intervention for Substance Use: A manual for use in primary care (Draft version 1.1 for Field Testing) , Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization).

Brief Intervention Manuals and Guides

Babor TF & Higgins-Biddle JC 2001 Brief Intervention for Hazardous and Harmful Drinking: A manual for use in primary care , Geneva, Switzerland: World Heath Organization (PDF 232Kb)

Baker A, Kay-Lambkin F, Lee NK, Claire M & Jenner L 2003 A Brief Cognitive Behavioural Intervention for Regular Amphetamine Users – A treatment guide Newcastle, NSW: Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing

O’Connor M & Simmons M 2002 Alcohol Screening and Brief Intervention AS+BI: A training program for veteran service providers , Canberra: Australian Government Department of Veteran’s Affairs

Department of Community Health Services 2002 “Chapter 3: Strategies for health promotion”, The Public Health Bush Book 1, Canberra: Department of Community Health Services

Shand F, Gates J, Fawcett J & Mattick, R 2003 Guidelines for the Treatment of Alcohol Problems, Sydney: National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre

Recent articles available in the DrugInfo Library

Hodgson Ray & John Bev 2004 "Gender, gender role and brief alcohol interventions", Addiction 99:1 Addresses the question of whether men and women respond equally to brief alcohol interventions.

Baer John F, Peterson Peggy & Wells Elizabeth A 2004 "Rationale and design of a brief substance use intervention for homeless adolescents", Addiction Research and Theory. Special Issue on Clinical innovation in intervention, 12 :4
The rationale for the use of brief feedback interventions is reviewed, and one such program that was designed to reduce substance use-risk among homeless young people is described.

Finfgeld-Connett DL 2004 "Treatment of substance misuse in older women: Using a brief intervention model", Journal of Gerontological Nursing, 30:8, pp. 30–37
Alcohol and benzodiazepine misuse is a significant problem in older women for a number of reasons, including physiological changes, outdated prescribing practices and failure to identify hazardous use. In addition, treatment barriers involving the health-care system, conflicting information and ageism also exist. Substance misuse among older women is predicted to become a bigger problem as the baby boom generation ages. Brief interventions that consist of assessment, feedback, responsibility, advice, menu, empathy and self-efficacy, or A-FRAMES, have the potential to reduce alcohol and benzodiazepine misuse among older women in a cost-effective manner.

Tait Robert J, Hulse Gary K & Robertson Susanne I 2004 “Effectiveness of a brief-intervention and continuity of care in enhancing attendance for treatment by adolescent substance users”, Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 74:3, pp. 289-96

Lewin T, Bailey K, Baker A & Webster R 2004 “Pilot randomized controlled trial of a brief alcohol intervention group for adolescents”, Drug and Alcohol Review, 23:2, pp. 157-66
A comparison between programs “Start over and Survive” (SOS) and “Standard Care (SC) and their effectiveness in brief intervention for substance misuse in early psychosis. Variables included whether living alone or with partners, and whether patients proceeded to motivational interviewing. The authors suggest that further research will increase the sample size and research engagement and potential confounds.

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