13. Resources

Drinking more than 14 units of alcohol per week.

A brief intervention, sometimes called ‘brief advice’, is a short, structured conversation about alcohol consumption or another lifestyle behaviour.

FRAMES is an acronym summarising the components of a brief intervention. Feedback (on the client's risk of having alcohol problems), responsibility (change is the client's responsibility), advice (provision of clear advice when requested), menu (what are the options for change?), empathy (an approach that is warm, reflective and understanding) and self-efficacy (optimism about the behaviour change).

Harmful drinking behaviour is defined as men who regularly drink more than 50 units a week and women who regularly drink more than 35 units per week.

Hazardous drinking behaviour is defined as men who drink over 14 units and up to 50 units per week and women who drink over 14 units and up to 35 units per week.

For patients with higher levels of alcohol consumption or who are alcohol dependent, it may be necessary to refer them for more extensive and longer-term interventions provided by other hospital departments, GPs or local services and support groups. Discussing the patient’s preferred option with them may help to refer them to the right kind of support.

SBIRT means screening, brief intervention and referral to treatment.

Screening refers to the rapid assessment of a patient’s drinking behaviour and identification of the advice or treatment that might be needed to help them reduce their alcohol consumption.

In the UK, alcoholic drinks are measured in units. One unit corresponds to approximately 8g or 10ml of ethanol.

Urgent and emergency care settings include, but are not limited to, emergency departments, urgent care centres, minor injury units and walk-in centres.

Website providing facts and support relating to alcohol.

Online tool to help patients check their drinking levels.

UK Chief Medical Officers' guidelines on how to keep health risks from drinking alcohol to a low level.

Alcohol use screening tests are provided which can be used by health professionals as a tool to assess a service users level of risk to alcohol harm. Provided by Public Health England.

Unit and Calorie Calculator which will work out the number of alcohol units and calories consumed.

Facts about alcohol including links to a calculator to work out how many units are in different alcoholic drinks.

This resource provides the alcohol use screening tests which can be used by health professionals as a tool to assess a service users level of risk to alcohol harm.

Information about the impact of alcohol, the Australian guidelines for how much it is safe to drink and tips for reducing or quitting alcohol consumption.

Published by Public Health Wales (2010) and written by Su Mably (Consultant in Public Health) and Craig Jones (Public Health Practitioner) this briefing paper provides a comprehensive guide for practitioners in delivering brief interventions on alcohol use. The paper introduces practitioners to key terms relating to brief advice, provides background information, describes the evidence based approach to brief advice, provides suggestions for having the conversation with patients and provides answers to some frequently asked questions.

Information about alcohol use statistics in the US, impact on health, guidelines for safe consumption and interventions.

Practical guidance on delivering brief interventions and the evidence to support them, plus online training resources.

Resources for health professionals including practical guidance and tools to promote alcohol awareness with patients. Includes guidance on how to have the conversation about alcohol with patients, resources to promote alcohol awareness and online support tools to help patients reduce their drinking.

Online tools to help patients assess, track and set goals to reduce their drinking.

This resource provides several training modules related to alcohol brief advice in primary care and hospital settings. NB: This is a UK based website which requires a login and password. If you work for the UK National Health Service or an associated organisation you may be able to access these resources, however they may not be accessible to everyone. .

A systematic review of brief alcohol interventions in primary care populations, written by Kaner EFS, Beyer FR, Muirhead C, Campbell F, Pienaar ED, Bertholet N, Daeppen J, Saunders JB, Burnand B (2018) Cochrane Reviews.

During the Sixty-third session of the World Health Assembly, held in Geneva in May 2010, the 193 Member States of WHO reached an historical consensus on a global strategy to reduce the harmful use of alcohol by adopted resolution WHA63.13. Work is now underway to develop the action plan (2022 - 2030) to effectively implement the Global strategy to reduce the harmful use of alcohol.

FRAMES approach (i.e. Feedback, Responsibility, Advice, Menu of options, Empathy, Self-efficacy).

The aim of LAPE is to provide information for local government, health organisations, commissioners and other agencies to monitor the impact of alcohol on local communities, and to monitor the services and initiatives that have been put in place to prevent and reduce the harmful impact of alcohol. The tool allows you to compare a local authority against other local authorities in the region and benchmark the local authority against the England or regional average..

Making every contact count (MECC) is an approach to behaviour change that utilises the millions of day to day interactions that organisations and people have with other people to encourage changes in behaviour that have a positive effect on the health and wellbeing of individuals, communities and populations (e.g. in relation to tobacco, hypertension, alcohol, being overweight or being physically inactive). This website provides resources and information to support people and organisations implementing MECC and has been developed with multi-agency input at local, regional and national level.

This website provides information about alcohol in pregnancy and Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD).

This guideline covers alcohol problems among people over 10 and provides guidelines for policy and practice for delivering brief interventions.

This review provides an overview of alcohol-related harm in England and possible policy solutions. The report offers a broad and rigorous summary of the types and prevalence of alcohol-related harm, and evidence for the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of alcohol control policies. The findings are interpreted within the English context and will be relevant to academics and researchers, public health professionals and policymakers in the health and non-health sectors.

Information leaflet about alcohol.

This toolkit aims to promote best practice in alcohol management, advance safe and effective care in this area and educate and train emergency care practitioners.

This website provides information for patients who are pregnant or planning to have a baby about the impact of alcohol on the development of the baby.

An independent charity of health professionals which aims to improve the understanding and management of alcohol-related health. Includes education, a journal, an annual symposium, policy and support.

A factsheet outlining the global impact of alcohol consumption.