Brief intervention

Brief intervention can often be referred to as screening and brief intervention (SBI) or, in England, identification and brief advice (IBA). Brief interventions are a technique used to initiate change for an unhealthy or risky behaviour such as smoking, lack of exercise or alcohol misuse. This page primarily describes brief interventions as applied to alcohol. As an alcohol intervention it is typically targeted to non-dependent drinkers, or drinkers who might be experiencing problems but are not seeking treatment. It is an approach which aims to prevent the acceleration or impact of alcohol problems, and/or to reduce alcohol consumption. It can be carried out in a range of settings such as in primary care, emergency or other hospital departments, criminal justice settings, workplaces, online, university/college settings, and other settings.

Brief intervention includes 'screening' or 'identification' whereby a person's drinking risk level is assessed using a validated tool such as the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT). This is then followed by some degree of feedback on this assessment. Alcohol Brief Interventions can be brief, such as delivered in a single session, or extended with multiple components or designed to be used multiple times.

It works in two ways:

• by getting people to think differently about their alcohol use so that they begin to think about or make changes in their alcohol consumption.
• by providing those who choose to drink with skills that allow them to consume alcoholic beverages in a safer way.