Obstacles to carrying out brief intervention for heavy drinkers in primary health care: a focus group study
Abstract
The objective of this study was to identify possible obstacles to carrying out competent early identification and brief intervention (EIBI) of heavy drinkers in primary health care. Qualitative focus group discussion method study applying the deductive framework approach. Six focus groups involving 18 general practitioners and 19 nurses were recruited from primary health care of the City of Tampere, Finland. Possible obstacles are: (1) confusion regarding the content of early-phase heavy drinking, (2) lack of self-efficacy among primary health care professionals, (3) sense of lacking time needed for carrying out brief intervention, (4) not having simple guidelines for brief intervention, (5) sense of difficulty in identifying of early-phase heavy drinkers, and (6) uncertainty about the justification for initiating discussion on alcohol issues with patients. The main actions to be taken to promote brief intervention are to educate professionals about the content of early-phase heavy drinking and to produce directing, but not excessively demanding guidelines for carrying out EIBI. Probably successful personal experiences carrying out EIBI can improve professionals' self-efficacy and give to them final justification for discussion alcohol issues with their patients.
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In 10 qualitative studies, primary health care providers considered asking about alcohol a delicate task because alcohol is viewed as a sensitive issue, making them feel uncomfortable.
“In 10 qualitative studies, primary health care (PHC) providers considered asking about alcohol a delicate task because alcohol is viewed as a sensitive issue, making them feel uncomfortable [37, 41, 54, 77, 89, 91, 97, 99, 109, 115].”
Having these resources and displaying information in the waiting room were reported as facilitators in several studies.
“Having these resources and displaying information in the waiting room (e.g. posters) were reported as facilitators in several studies [20, 23, 37, 39, 47, 55, 78, 92].”
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Self-citation
- Authors
- AALTO, M., PEKURI, P., & SEPPÄ, K.
- Affiliations
- Tampere University Hospital (FI)
- Corresponding author
- AALTO, MAURI
- ORCID
- AALTO, MAURI
- Venue
- Drug and Alcohol Review
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2003-06
- Volume
- 22
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 169-173
- ISSN
- 0959-5236 (ISSN-L)
- 1465-3362
- OpenAlex
- W2167679189
- Cited by
- 119
- References
- 8
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 7 · 2016: 6 · 2015: 5 · 2014: 6 · 2013: 6 · 2012: 6
- FWCI
- 5.38
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Drug and Alcohol Review (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Substance Abuse Treatment and Outcomes
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Health Policy Implementation Science
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pathology and Forensic Medicine › Alcohol Consumption and Health Effects
- Keywords
- brief intervention, heavy drinking, primary care, general practitioners, nurses, implementation barriers, professional self-efficacy, alcohol screening, clinical guidelines, professional education, alcohol use disorder prevention
- MeSH terms
- Workforce, Alcoholism, Counseling, Female, Finland, Health Personnel, Humans, Male, Preventive Health Services, Primary Health Care, Professional Competence, Professional-Patient Relations, Psychotherapy, Brief, Research Design, Severity of Illness Index, Time Factors, Guidelines as Topic
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