Effectiveness Bank web site Additions
Supported by  Alcohol Research UK web site   Society for the Study of Addiction web site
Effectiveness Bank additions 18 January 2018
Runs through from a high-profile US prevention trial to a study and a review of the prevention/treatment mix of brief alcohol interventions, and finally to the attempt to extend pharmacological treatment closer to the brief intervention end of the alcohol dependence spectrum.

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Groundbreaking prevention trial; ‘robust’ findings?
A US trial is said to have produced a “robust” demonstration of the potential of a system for preventing teenage substance use in which communities take the lead. Our detailed analysis suggests ‘robust’ is an adjective too far, and explains methodological concerns common to many prevention trials.
Also see Effectiveness Bank hot topic on drug education.

In primary care, it pays to incentivise screening
UK study of how Quality and Outcomes Framework incentives for primary care boosted alcohol screening among patients with severe mental illness; shows what could have happened had the incentives been extended across the entire primary care caseload.
Also see hot topic on the public health potential of brief alcohol interventions.

Can drinking be reduced in a single session?
Review finds that heavy-drinking college students respond best to single-session brief interventions that use motivational and/or personalised feedback approaches. Key question is whether the “modest” drinking reductions would be replicated in real life (as opposed to study) settings.
Also see hot topic on the public health potential of brief alcohol interventions.

No clear role for medications in less dependent drinkers
In 2013 nalmefene was authorised for moderating drinking among patients not in need of detoxification, extending pharmacotherapy to less dependent drinkers. Though uniquely authorised for this purpose, this review found other (and probably cheaper) drugs have been just as effective.
Also see analyses on nalmefene and baclofen, two of the medications included in the review.

REVISED Has the risk of sharing ‘spoons’ and filters been overstated?
Despite research showing strong links between sharing injecting paraphernalia and contracting hepatitis C, this laboratory study challenges presumptions that sharing ‘spoons’ or filters are in themselves high-risk practices.

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The Drug and Alcohol Findings Effectiveness Bank offers a free mailing list service updating subscribers to UK-relevant evaluations of drug/alcohol interventions. Findings is supported by Alcohol Research UK and the Society for the Study of Addiction and advised by the National Addiction Centre.