Impact of an alcohol misuse intervention for health care workers - 1: Frequency of binge drinking and desire to reduce alcohol use

Aims: This report presents results of a 3-year study to evaluate the effects of an enhanced substance misuse prevention/early intervention programme on binge drinking and desire to reduce alcohol use among health care professionals employed in a managed care organization. Methods: The intervention was implemented at one site, but not at satellite locations, which were used for comparison. The intervention included relatively low-cost elements, such as substance misuse awareness training for managers and the use of health risk appraisals (HRAs) and educational videos on how to reduce stress, depression and binge drinking. We evaluated intervention effects by comparing HRA scores of employees at the intervention site to all other employees who completed the HRA, while adjusting for demographic factors, reported stress levels, employment site and the effects of time. Outcomes analysed included number of days binge drinking (drinking 5 or more drinks per occasion in the past 30 days) and desire to reduce alcohol use. Results: Binge drinking rates were not affected by the intervention. Among those who binge-drank, however, employees who completed the HRA at the intervention site in the post-intervention period were 2.59 times more likely to report a desire to cut down on alcohol use, compared with the pre-intervention time period and with both time periods in the comparison site (P < 0.05). Conclusions: We conclude that while the intervention did not significantly affect reported alcohol use, it did increase motivation to reduce alcohol use among binge drinkers.