Can motivational interviewing in emergency care reduce alcohol consumption in young people? A systematic review and meta-analysis
Abstract
AIMS: We investigate the effect of motivational interviewing (MI), delivered in a brief intervention during an emergency care contact, on the alcohol consumption of young people who screen positively for present or previous risky alcohol consumption. METHODS: MEDLINE, CINAHL, EMBASE, PsycARTICLES, PsycINFO, PSYNDEX and Scopus were searched for randomized controlled trials with adolescents or young adults that compared MI in an emergency care setting to control conditions and measured drinking outcomes. RESULTS: Six trials with 1433 participants, aged 13-25 years, were included in the systematic review and meta-analysis. MI was never less efficacious than a control intervention. Two trials found significantly more reduction in one or more measures of alcohol consumption in the MI intervention group. One trial indicated that MI may be used most effectively in young people with high-volume alcohol consumption. Separate random effects meta-analyses were performed based on the highest impact that MI added on reducing the drinking frequency and the drinking quantity at any point in time during the different study periods. Their results were expressed as standardized mean differences (SMDs). The frequency of drinking alcohol decreased significantly more after MI than after control interventions (SMD ≤ -0.17, P ≤ 0.03). In addition, MI reduced the drinking quantity further than control interventions in a meta-analysis of the subset of trials that were implemented in the USA (SMD = -0.12, P = 0.04). Meta-analyses of the smallest mean differences between MI and control groups detected no differences in alcohol use (SMD ≤ 0.02, P ≥ 0.38). CONCLUSION: MI appears at least as effective and may possibly be more effective than other brief interventions in emergency care to reduce alcohol consumption in young people.
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A myriad of other high-income country studies have shown that a brief intervention administered specifically in an emergency department setting can reduce harmful alcohol use and its consequences up to 12 months post-injury and decrease the incidence of trauma recidivism.
“A myriad of other high-income country (HIC) studies have shown that a BI administered specifically in an emergency department setting can reduce harmful alcohol use and its consequences up to 12 months post-injury [16–19] and decrease the incidence of trauma recidivism [20].”
Brief interventions have been studied to decrease alcohol use and alcohol-related consequences in a variety of settings and countries.
“Brief interventions have been studied to decrease alcohol use and alcohol-related consequences in a variety of settings and countries [102–105].”
From Patient-level interventions to reduce alcohol-related harms in low- and middle-income countries: A systematic review and meta-summary (2022) · cites this paper as [104]
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- Authors
- Kohler, S., & Hofmann, A.
- Affiliations
- Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin (DE)
- Health Innovation University of Applied Sciences (DE)
- Corresponding author
- Kohler, Stefan
- ORCID
- Kohler, Stefan
- Venue
- Alcohol and Alcoholism
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2015-01-06
- Volume
- 50
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 107-117
- ISSN
- 0735-0414 (ISSN-L)
- 1464-3502
- OpenAlex
- W2152000331
- Cited by
- 139
- References
- 29
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 22 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 10 · 2020: 54 · 2019: 10 · 2018: 7 · 2017: 11 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 3
- FWCI
- 1.08
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Alcohol and Alcoholism (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Scholarship@Western (Western University) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Substance Abuse Treatment and Outcomes
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Behavioral Health and Interventions
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pathology and Forensic Medicine › Alcohol Consumption and Health Effects
- Keywords
- motivational interviewing, brief intervention, emergency care, alcohol consumption, youth, adolescents, young adults, hazardous drinking, drinking frequency, drinking quantity, alcohol screening
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Alcohol Drinking, Emergency Service, Hospital, Humans, Young Adult, Motivational Interviewing, Binge Drinking
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