@article{ref1,
title="Screening and Brief Intervention Targeting Risky Drinkers in Danish General Practice A Pragmatic Controlled Trial",
journal="Alcohol and alcoholism",
year="2007",
author="Beich, Anders and Gannik, Dorte and Saelan, H. and Thorsen, Thorkil",
volume="42",
number="6",
pages="593-603",
abstract="AIMS: Recommendations for routine alcohol screening and brief counselling intervention in primary health care rest on results from intervention efficacy studies. By conducting a pragmatic controlled trial (PCT), we aimed at evaluating the effectiveness of the WHO recommendations for screening and brief intervention (SBI) in general practice. METHODS: A randomized PCT (brief counselling intervention vs no intervention) involving 39 Danish general practitioners (GPs). Systematic screening of 6897 adults led to inclusion of 906 risky drinkers, and research follow-up on 537 of these after 12-14 months. Outcome measures focused on patients' acceptance of screening and intervention and their self-reported alcohol consumption. RESULTS: Patient acceptance of screening and intervention -10.3% (N = 794) of the target population (N = 7, 691) explicitly refused screening. All intervention group subjects (N = 442) were exposed to an instant brief counselling session while only 17.9% of them (79/442) attended a follow-up consultation that was offered by their GP. Consumption Changes At one-year follow-up, average weekly consumption had increased by 0.7 drinks in both comparison groups. As secondary findings, we observed an indiscriminate absolute risk reduction (ARR = 0.08 (95% CI: -0.02; 0.18)) in male binge drinking, but adverse intervention effects for women on the secondary outcomes (binge drinking ARR = -0.30 (95% CI: -0.47; 0.09)). CONCLUSIONS: The results of brief interventions in everyday general practice performed on the basis of systematic questionnaire screening may fall short of theoretical expectations. When applied to non-selected groups in everyday general practice SBI may have little effect and engender diverse outcome. Women may be more susceptible to defensive reactions than men.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0735-0414",
doi="10.1093/alcalc/agm063",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/alcalc/agm063"
}