Unhealthy Alcohol Use Tools & Resources

Study of the capacity of primary care practices around the country to provide health services, including mental health and substance use treatment, via telehealth, with suggestions for future implementation of telehealth expansion in primary care

Meta-analysis reviewed 15 clinical trials examining the efficacy of an integrated cognitive-behavioral intervention (CBI) delivered to individuals with an alcohol or other drug use disorder and a co-occurring mental health disorder, suggesting that integrated CBI showed promise for interventions targeting alcohol use

Finds that self-administered screening and screening at any primary care visit is associated with greater detection of high-risk alcohol use, and that clinics with more practice facilitation have greater implementation of the counseling script for those who screen positive

Randomized trial of a relational agent-based intervention for alcohol use disorder (AUD), showing that technology can be leveraged to deliver screening and referral to treatment for AUD in primary care medical settings

Acknowledges the link between childhood trauma and substance use disorders; offers information to providers on how to use a trauma-informed care approach while delivering brief intervention

Suggests that alcohol use treatment for patients with alcohol-related cirrhosis of the liver, such as counseling and medication-assisted therapies, can improve outcomes and are cost-effective

Provides an overview of disulfiram for alcohol use, including indications, mechanism of action, administration, adverse effects, contraindications, and how to use it within an interprofessional health care team

Reviews seven trials on naltrexone use for alcohol use disorder, finding that it reduces drinking days and heavy drinking days per month, with longer duration of treatment associated with larger reductions

Systematic review looking at the effects of brief interventions for substance use delivered in general medical settings, finding that alcohol-targeted brief interventions may produce small reductions in drinking

Evalutes the prescene of "spin," a biased way of reporting results, in the abstract of systematic reviews of pharmacotherapy for alcohol use disorder, finding "spin" in more than 40% of the abstracts identified, something physicians should be aware of