Citation

Hedberg C, Engstrom I, Vickhoff R, Lynöe N. Scand. J. Public Health 2010; 38(5): 553-554.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2010, Associations of Public Health in the Nordic Countries Regions, Publisher SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/1403494810371244

PMID

20576675

Abstract

Recently a meta-analysis about screening for alcohol consumption combined with brief intervention, has shown that men with risky drinking habits (not abuse) in a primary healthcare setting might reduce their alcohol intake by an average of 50 g alcohol per week. The intervention has no effect on females’ drinking habits, but nevertheless GPs are now supposed to ask all patients about their alcohol habits. However, as stated by Beich et al., GPs seem to have serious concerns when applying the brief intervention strategy as routine and independent of the reasons for what the patients are attending their GPs. GPs are especially worried about the risk of wronging their patient, as acting like paternalists, and furthermore they find that the method creates more problems that it is supposed to solve. This, in our judgment, is because although the intervention is evidence-based, it is not sufficiently value-based.

Language: en