The Effectiveness of the Brief Intervention on Alcoholism in Adults - Term Paper Example

Introduction Background There is a significant public health burden associated with substance use worldwide. Alcoholism accounts for 3.2% of all deaths and 4.0% of Disability Adjusted Life Years respectively (Bien, et al, 1993). The World Health Report (2002) reported that substance use is among the top 20 risk factors that cause death worldwide (World Health Organization, 2002). There is also evidence that the pressure that is exerted on the health facilities from nondependent use of substances (e.g., binge drinking) is greater than that caused by dependent use of substances (Institute of Medicine, 1990; Skinner, 1987). Substantial evidence indicates that screening and administering of brief interventions for alcoholics in primary health care facilities is beneficial; and more so when the brief intervention is linked to results of screening tests such as the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) (Bien et al., 1993; Heather, 1996; Senft et al., 1997; WHO Brief Intervention Study Group, 1996). The findings from the WHO Brief Intervention Study Group (1996) indicated that five minutes of simple advice, when linked to the AUDIT results, produced equivalent results to a 20 minute counseling session. This study investigate the effectiveness of brief intervention on alcoholism in adults. Main objective The aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness of brief intervention on alcoholism outcomes. 1. Objectives To investigate the impact of brief intervention on alcohol consumption of alcoholics and whether the impact differs between the intervention group and control group. 2. To determine whether there is a relationship between the diagnosis and number of relapses 3. To compares the scores at different times between intervention and control group 4. To qualitatively explore participants’ views of the brief intervention procedure Methodology Study design This study employed a cross-sectional mixed methods quantitative and qualitative design (i.e., experiment and interviews). The study was conducted over a period of 3 months. The quantitative phase employed a pre-post clinical trial. participants were allocated to either intervention group (to receive a brief intervention) or a control group (no brief intervention). The between groups variable was Group with two levels (intervention and control group). The within subjects variable was Time with three levels: time 1 (baseline/pre-intervention), time 2 (post-intervention), and time 3 (follow-up). The dependent variable was alcohol intake, measured at each time period (time 1, time 2, time 3). The qualitative phase involved one interview with 11 participants, to explore their views on the brief intervention. Participants The clinical trial included 45 participants. Their ages ranged from 27 to 41 years (M=34.16, SD=3.38).There were 24 females (53%) and 21 males (47%). A Health and habits Survey General Health Questionnaire was used as a screening tool to identify eligible participants for this study. Of the 45 participants, 23 were assigned to the control group, and 22 were assigned to the intervention group. An independent samples t-test found there was no significant difference in age between the control group (M=34.27, SD=3.76) and the intervention group (M=34.05, SD=11.50), [t(48)=0.21, p=0.83]. However, an independent samples t-test found that baseline alcohol intake differed significantly, as it was significantly higher in the intervention group (M=32.05, SD=5.42), as compared with the control group (M=26.53, SD=4.04) and [t(43)=-3.89, p Read More