Effectiveness of skills-based training using the Drink-less package to increase family practitioner confidence in intervening for alcohol use disorders
Open accessAbstract
Background: Misuse of alcohol is second only to tobacco as a leading cause of preventable death in Australia. There is an opportunity in family practice to detect problems and intervene with people at risk of alcohol-related harm before complications occur. However, family practitioners (FPs) report low levels of confidence in managing patients with drinking problems. The aim of this study was to determine whether the interactive training session using the 'Drink-less' package led to improvement in FPs' self-reported level of confidence in detecting and providing interventions for risky alcohol consumption. Method: FPs in urban and rural New South Wales were invited to training sessions in their local area. An introductory overview preceded a practical skills- based session, using the Drink-less package. Participants completed before and after evaluation forms. Results: While 49% (CI 43 – 55) of the attending FPs indicated at baseline that they felt confident in identifying at-risk drinkers, this proportion rose to 90% (95% CI: 87 – 93) post-session, and they also reported increases in confidence from 36% (95% CI: 31 – 41) to 90% in their ability to advise patients. Urban FPs reported lower levels of confidence than rural FPs, both pre- and post-session. Conclusion: Training sessions in the Drink-less intervention resulted in increased self-reported confidence in detection and brief intervention for alcohol problems. Further research is needed to determine the duration of this effect and its influence on practice behaviour.
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The majority of GPs in 9 studies and of nurses in 3 quantitative studies felt they were not skilled enough to deliver alcohol SBI.
“On the one hand, the majority of the GPs in 9 [20, 44, 47, 57, 59, 62, 67, 83, 104], and of the nurses in 3 quantitative studies [20, 59, 84] felt they were not skilled enough to deliver alcohol SBI;”
From Factors influencing the implementation of screening and brief interventions for alcohol use in primary care practices: a systematic review using the COM-B system and Theoretical Domains Framework (2021) · cites this paper as [104]
The Results (Post-survey; page not provided) show that only 36% of participating family practitioners felt confident advising patients before training, supporting the claim of limited GP confidence. But the paper does not establish that the majority felt *unskilled*, and its Results analysis excludes nurses, so it cannot support the nurses portion of the claim. (LLM, conf=0.84)
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Cross, W. F., Seaburn, D. B., Gibbs, D., Schmeelk‐Cone, K., White, A. M., & Caine, E. D. (2011) · The Journal of Primary Prevention · doi:10.1007/s10935-011-0250-z · Cited by 227 · see citing works
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Rosário, F., Santos, M. I., Angus, K., Pas, L., Ribeiro, C., & Fitzgerald, N. (2021) · Implementation Science · doi:10.1186/s13012-020-01073-0 · Cited by 141 · see citing works
“On the one hand, the majority of the GPs in 9 [20, 44, 47, 57, 59, 62, 67, 83, 104], and of the nurses in 3 quantitative studies [20, 59, 84] felt they were not skilled enough to deliver alcohol SBI; on the other hand, the majority of the GPs in 14 [16, 20, 23, 36, 52, 62, 64, 70, 78, 83, 95, 106, 108, Table 3 Themes…”
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“The intervention was based on World Health Organisation validated brief advice, presented in the Drink-Less kit [40] as recently revised [41,42].”
MethodSelf-citationShourie, S., Conigrave, K. M., PROUDE, E. M., Ward, J., Wutzke, S. E., & Haber, P. (2006) · Alcohol and Alcoholism · doi:10.1093/alcalc/agl059 · Cited by 38 · see citing works
“Participants who were not alcohol dependent received brief intervention using the World Health Organization-based ‘Drink-less’ package (Gomel et al., 1994) as recently revised (The Drinkless Program 2004, Proude et al., 2006).”
MethodSelf-citationThe association between intimate partner violence, alcohol and depression in family practice
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“was given to participants assigned to the intervention group. Two nurses had been previously separately trained in brief intervention for alcohol using the Drink-less package by one of the principal researchers and staff specialists in a one-on-one session lasting 1.5 hours.”
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A systematic review of behavioural interventions to reduce preoperative alcohol use
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“In terms of intervention theory and framework, one study [52] used a protocol-based, empirically supported intervention based on the World Health Organization-based ‘Drink-less’ program [54,55].”
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Exploring health visitors' perspectives of screening parents for alcohol misuse
Scott, R. (2017) · Journal of Health Visiting · doi:10.12968/johv.2017.5.5.226 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
- Authors
- Proude, E. M., Conigrave, K. M., & Haber, P. S.
- Affiliations
- Royal Prince Alfred Hospital (AU)
- The University of Sydney (AU)
- Corresponding author
- Proude, Elizabeth M
- Venue
- BMC Medical Education
- Published
- 2006-02-06
- Volume
- 6
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 8-8
- ISSN
- 1472-6920 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC1403778
- OpenAlex
- W1539112153
- Cited by
- 25
- References
- 30
- Citations by year
- 2021: 6 · 2020: 1 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 1 · 2015: 2 · 2013: 1
- FWCI
- 1.47
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- BMC Medical Education (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Substance Abuse Treatment and Outcomes
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Innovations in Medical Education
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Health Policy Implementation Science
- Keywords
- brief alcohol intervention, family practitioners, physician confidence, alcoholism, skill-based training, urban-rural differences, primary care
- MeSH terms
- Accidents, Traffic, Adult, Alcoholism, Attitude of Health Personnel, Automobile Driving, Clinical Competence, Computer-Assisted Instruction, Counseling, Education, Medical, Continuing, Family Practice, Humans, Middle Aged, New South Wales, Program Evaluation, Educational Technology
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