The BMJ has published an original research article titled “Effectiveness of screening and brief alcohol intervention in primary care (SIPS trial): Pragmatic cluster randomised controlled trial,” which was developed by an interdisciplinary group of seventeen people. The group includes professors of public health research and health statistics, consultant psychiatrists, a professor of drug and alcohol studies, and a professor of addiction psychiatry. The interdisciplinary team provided a variety of expert perspectives on the study design and data analysis.
The study is a randomized controlled trial that focuses on the improvement of patient outcomes with respect to the reduction of harmful and hazardous drinking. It tested three interventions performed in primary care settings by general practitioners and practice care nurses. The interventions included an information leaflet, brief structured advice, and a brief session of lifestyle counseling; participants were randomly assigned to one of the three groups and received their intervention immediately after screening. The authors recruited 756 patients with alcohol use disorder and followed them for 12 months. The study employed the alcohol use disorders identification test to determine outcomes and questionnaires to determine the motivation to change behavior.
The authors found that all three interventions resulted in a decrease in alcohol use disorder, but the difference between the three interventions was not statistically significant. However, the brief counseling group reported greater motivation to change behavior, which proved to be statistically significant. The authors state that the potential weakness of the study is the lack of control over the nature of the consultations provided by the specialists, but the latter did receive training on the appropriate delivery of interventions. The study suggests that the results support the effectiveness of all three interventions, especially their immediate administration after screening and provide data on patient responses to them.