Drug and Alcohol Findings home page in a new window EFFECTIVENESS BANK BULLETIN 8 May 2012

The entries below are our accounts of documents collected by Drug and Alcohol Findings as relevant to improving outcomes from drug or alcohol interventions in the UK. The original documents were not published by Findings; click on the Titles to obtain copies. Free reprints may also be available from the authors. If displayed, click prepared e-mail to adapt the pre-prepared e-mail message or compose your own message. The Summary is intended to convey the findings and views expressed in the document. Below may be a commentary from Drug and Alcohol Findings.


Contents

Dutch suite of web-based alcohol interventions

From overlapping teams of authors based in the Netherlands, all the studies in this bulletin concern a suite of web-based alcohol interventions developed for Dutch heavy drinking adults. At the lowest level of intervention intensity and problem severity is a 10-minute brief intervention for risky drinkers. Stepping up problem and intensity ranges is a four-step cognitive-behavioural intervention (this entry is repeated from an earlier bulletin). At the apex is the only one to feature interaction with a therapist, in this case via text-chat over seven sessions, intended to extend treatment to more problem drinkers than attend face-to-face therapy. The Dutch team also reviewed the evidence from their own and other studies, and devised a mathematical model which simulates the health gains and costs of incorporating these new technologies in a health care system. Applied to the Netherlands and using the tested interventions, it predicted a more cost-effective alcohol health care system. Together this work has comprehensively mapped and evaluated internet alcohol intervention possibilities in a UK-like context, leading to the conviction that while these cannot replace therapists, they can extend their reach and curb drinking further down the severity/complexity range, at the level conventionally addressed by brief interventions in general medical care.

10-minute web alcohol check-up and advice leads 1000s to cut back ...

CBT programme for harmful drinkers passes lab and real-world tests ...

Too soon to get rid of the therapists ...

Internet self-help low-cost way to extend public health impact of alcohol interventions ...

On-line alcohol interventions would improve health care value for money ...