Drinkaware brief alcohol advice in the community

As part of the ‘Have a Little Less, Feel a Lot Better’ campaign launched in 2016 Drinkaware developed materials to deliver alcohol brief advice – or IBA (Identification and Brief Advice) – in community settings, including: supermarkets, pharmacies and community health teams.

There is evidence for the benefits of delivering alcohol brief advice in primary care as it helps people to understand their own drinking and its potential impact, the benefits of cutting down, and how they can take easy steps to start cutting down. Seeking to contribute to the delivery of this evidence-based approach to reduce alcohol harm, Drinkaware commissioned work to inform the easy and engaging delivery of IBA in the community.

Key findings

Based on interviews with staff delivering the Drinkaware IBA the evaluation study found that there are benefits from delivering IBA across a range of different community settings, facilitating a more inclusive engagement. Delivery staff felt their respective settings were appropriate for the delivery of the intervention and they had proactively engaged members of the public with varying levels of risky drinking and readiness for behaviour change.

The study provides insight into how intervention acceptability and success relate to specific settings, everyday practice and role boundaries. This study also highlights key areas to be addressed when implementing IBAs in non-clinical community settings by staff with diverse levels of health-related knowledge, skills and support needs.