@article{ref1,
title="The effectiveness of brief alcohol interventions delivered by community pharmacists: randomised controlled trial",
journal="Addiction",
year="2015",
author="Dhital, Ranjita and Norman, Ian and Whittlesea, Cate and Murrells, Trevor and McCambridge, Jim",
volume="110",
number="10",
pages="1586-1594",
abstract="BACKGROUND & AIMS: To undertake the first randomised controlled trial to evaluate the effectiveness of a brief intervention delivered by community pharmacists to reduce hazardous or harmful drinking. <br><br>DESIGN: This parallel group individually randomised trial, allocated participants to brief alcohol intervention (n = 205) or a leaflet-only control condition (n = 202), with follow-up study after 3 months. SETTING: 16 community pharmacies in one London borough, UK. PARTICIPANTS: 407 pharmacy customers (aged 18 or over) with AUDIT scores 8-19 inclusive. INTERVENTION: A brief motivational discussion of approximately 10 minutes duration for which 17 pharmacists received a half-day of training. MEASUREMENTS: Hazardous or harmful drinking was assessed using the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) administered by telephone by a researcher blind to allocation status. The two primary outcomes were: 1) change in AUDIT total scores and 2) the proportions no longer hazardous or harmful drinkers (scoring <8) at three months. The four secondary outcomes were: the three sub-scale scores of the AUDIT (for consumption, problems and dependence), and health status according to the EQ-5D (a standardised instrument for use as a measure of health outcome). <br><br>FINDINGS: At 3 months 326 (80% overall; 82% intervention, 78% control) participants were followed up. The difference in reduction in total AUDIT score (intervention minus control) was -0.57 95% CI -1.59 to 0.45, p = 0.28. The odds ratio for AUDIT <8 (control as reference) was 0.87 95% CI 0.50 to 1.51, p = 0.61). For two of the four secondary outcomes (dependence score: -0.46 95% CI -0.82 to -0.09, p = 0.014; health status score: -0.09 95% CI -0.16 to -0.02, p = 0.013) the control group did better, and in the other two there were no differences (consumption score: -0.05 95% CI -0.54 to 0.44, p = 0.85; non-dependence problems score: -0.13 95% CI -0.66 to 0.41). Sensitivity analyses did not change these findings. <br><br>CONCLUSIONS: A brief intervention delivered by community pharmacists appears to have had no effect in reducing hazardous or harmful alcohol consumption. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0965-2140",
doi="10.1111/add.12994",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/add.12994"
}