Brief Interventions
Brief interventions provide nonjudgmental, individualized feedback about drinking and its potential harms, recommendations about lowerrisk drinking, negotiation of an acceptable goal for changing risk drinking, and arrangement of follow-up to assess progress toward the goal. If the assessment does not identify high-risk features, reducing consumption to a level below the threshold for risk is a reasonable goal. Metaanalyses of randomized trials in primary care settings have shown that brief interventions reduce consumption in risk drinkers without alcohol dependence; these interventions have also been reported to reduce alcohol-related harms and mortality.25 Data regarding the efficacy of
brief interventions are less consistent in acute care settings where alcohol dependence predominates. Randomized clinical trials have shown that online interventions that assess drinking patterns and provide normative feedback can modestly reduce risk drinking. As with any brief intervention, follow-up care should focus on reinforcing success or providing a referral for specialty treatment if the patient cannot stop or cut back.