A randomized controlled trial of a brief intervention for illicit drugs linked to the Alcohol, Smoking and Substance Involvement Screening Test (ASSIST) in clients recruited from primary health‐care settings in four countries
Abstract
AIMS: This study evaluated the effectiveness of a brief intervention (BI) for illicit drugs (cannabis, cocaine, amphetamine-type stimulants and opioids) linked to the World Health Organization (WHO) Alcohol, Smoking and Substance Involvement Screening Test (ASSIST). The ASSIST screens for problem or risky use of 10 psychoactive substances, producing a score for each substance that falls into either a low-, moderate- or high-risk category. DESIGN: Prospective, randomized controlled trial in which participants were either assigned to a 3-month waiting-list control condition or received brief motivational counselling lasting an average of 13.8 minutes for the drug receiving the highest ASSIST score. SETTING: Primary health-care settings in four countries: Australia, Brazil, India and the United States. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 731 males and females scoring within the moderate-risk range of the ASSIST for cannabis, cocaine, amphetamine-type stimulants or opioids. MEASUREMENTS: ASSIST-specific substance involvement scores for cannabis, stimulants or opioids and ASSIST total illicit substance involvement score at baseline and 3 months post-randomization. FINDINGS: Omnibus analyses indicated that those receiving the BI had significantly reduced scores for all measures, compared with control participants. Country-specific analyses showed that, with the exception of the site in the United States, BI participants had significantly lower ASSIST total illicit substance involvement scores at follow-up compared with the control participants. The sites in India and Brazil demonstrated a very strong brief intervention effect for cannabis scores (P < 0.005 for both sites), as did the sites in Australia (P < 0.005) and Brazil (P < 0.01) for stimulant scores and the Indian site for opioid scores (P < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: The Alcohol, Smoking and Substance Involvement Screening Test-linked brief intervention aimed at reducing illicit substance use and related risks is effective, at least in the short term, and the effect generalizes across countries.
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In that multi-country study, a large majority of patients in the low-income countries were employed.
“A multi-country study (both high and low income) of brief intervention for illicit drug use found effectiveness in countries other than the USA but did not focus on young adults, and a large majority of patients in the low-income countries were employed (Humeniuk et al., 2012).”
From Effectiveness of Nurse-Practitioner-Delivered Brief Motivational Intervention for Young Adult Alcohol and Drug Use in Primary Care in South Africa: A Randomized Clinical Trial (2014) · cites this paper as Humeniuk et al., 2012
A multi-country study of brief intervention for illicit drug use found effectiveness in countries other than the USA.
“A multi-country study (both high and low income) of brief intervention for illicit drug use found effectiveness in countries other than the USA but did not focus on young adults, and a large majority of patients in the low-income countries were employed (Humeniuk et al., 2012).”
From Effectiveness of Nurse-Practitioner-Delivered Brief Motivational Intervention for Young Adult Alcohol and Drug Use in Primary Care in South Africa: A Randomized Clinical Trial (2014) · cites this paper as Humeniuk et al., 2012
That multi-country study of brief intervention for illicit drug use did not focus on young adults.
“A multi-country study (both high and low income) of brief intervention for illicit drug use found effectiveness in countries other than the USA but did not focus on young adults, and a large majority of patients in the low-income countries were employed (Humeniuk et al., 2012).”
From Effectiveness of Nurse-Practitioner-Delivered Brief Motivational Intervention for Young Adult Alcohol and Drug Use in Primary Care in South Africa: A Randomized Clinical Trial (2014) · cites this paper as Humeniuk et al., 2012
The original ASSIST-linked BI had been found to be efficacious among youth from LMICs including Brazil and India.
“This study utilized the ASSIST-Y linked BI (Humeniuk et al., 2016) since the original ASSIST-linked BI (World Health Organization, 2003) from which the ASSIST-Y-linked BI had been adapted, had been found to be efficacious among youth from LMICs including Brazil and India (Humeniuk et al., 2012).”
From Adapting a substance use screening and brief intervention for peer-delivery and for youth in Kenya (2023) · cites this paper as Humeniuk et al., 2012
A cross-national randomized control trial found the WHO ASSIST-linked BI to be efficacious in reducing the level of substance involvement for participants with moderate risk substance use.
“A cross-national (Brazil, India, Australia, US) randomized control trial found the intervention to be efficacious in reducing the level of substance involvement for participants with moderate risk substance use (Humeniuk et al., 2012).”
From Adapting a substance use screening and brief intervention for peer-delivery and for youth in Kenya (2023) · cites this paper as Humeniuk et al., 2012
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- Authors
- Humeniuk, R., Ali, R., Babor, T., Souza‐Formigoni, M. L. O., de Lacerda, R. B., Ling, W., McRee, B., Newcombe, D., Pal, H., Poznyak, V., Simon, S., & Vendetti, J.
- Affiliations
- The University of Adelaide (AU)
- University of Connecticut (US)
- University of California, Los Angeles (US)
- University of Auckland (NZ)
- All India Institute of Medical Sciences (IN)
- World Health Organization (CH)
- Corresponding author
- Humeniuk, Rachel
- Venue
- Addiction
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2012-02-28
- Volume
- 107
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 957-966
- ISSN
- 0965-2140 (ISSN-L)
- 1360-0443
- OpenAlex
- W1512418458
- Cited by
- 211
- References
- 25
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 14 · 2021: 16 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 12 · 2018: 19 · 2017: 24 · 2016: 15 · 2015: 16 · 2014: 33 · 2013: 15 · 2012: 6
- FWCI
- 12.96
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Addiction (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Adelaide Research & Scholarship (AR&S) (University of Adelaide) (submittedVersion)
- UNIFESP Institutional Repository (Universidade Federal de São Paulo) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- World Health Organization
- National Institute on Drug Abuse
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Substance Abuse Treatment and Outcomes
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Opioid Use Disorder Treatment
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Smoking Behavior and Cessation
- Keywords
- brief intervention, motivational counseling, ASSIST, illicit drug use, cannabis, cocaine, amphetamine-type stimulants, opioids, substance use screening, primary care, cross-cultural generalizability
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Alcohol Drinking, Analysis of Variance, Marijuana Abuse, Counseling, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Motivation, Opioid-Related Disorders, Prospective Studies, Psychotherapy, Brief, Surveys and Questionnaires, Smoking, Illicit Drugs, Substance Abuse Detection, Substance-Related Disorders, Cocaine-Related Disorders, Young Adult
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