Abstract
Patients admitted to general hospital with harmful use of alcohol are often motivated for alcohol abstinence post discharge, but they are often readmitted to hospital, by which time they have likely started drinking again. The purpose of this study was primarily to evaluate the effect of Brief Intervention before and after discharge on the frequency of alcohol abstinence 2 months after discharge, and secondarily to identify predictors for abstinence. A randomized, controlled trial with consecutive recruitment of patients was conducted at Aarhus University Hospital, Denmark. A total of 50 patients admitted due to alcohol-related disease and active harmful use of alcohol, were included in the study and randomly placed in two groups: a “Brief Intervention” group, which received Motivational Interviewing for 2 months, and a control group which was discharged according to standard practice. Patients in the Brief Intervention group were more likely to remain alcohol abstinent after 2 months. None of the patient or drinking pattern characteristics predicted abstinence after 2 months. The incremental total cost of one alcohol abstinent patient was 3 study staff hours. In conclusion, Brief Intervention based on Motivational Interviews was shown to be efficacious in increasing the short-term frequency of post-discharge alcohol abstinence among the patients studied. No differences could be found between patients who did and did not benefit from the intervention. Accordingly analysis of survival and hospital admission rate 12 months after the study was not able to show any difference between the 2 groups.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This investigation has only been possible due to economic support from the County of Aarhus, Denmark and due to an enthusiastic effort from the study team: Mette Hornum, Anne Marie Noedgaard, Lise Laerke Moeller, Martin Abildgaard, Ulla Bak Jensen, Jette Vilstrup Tomsen and Lotte Juul.