Electronic Brief Personalised Feedback Interventions for Alcohol Use

Abstract

Developing and implementing effective interventions to prevent and intervene with harmful alcohol use remains imperative if the global burden of alcohol related harms is to be reduced and the lives of those affected improved. Excessive alcohol consumption remains a significant public health problem. Worldwide, three million deaths every year are attributed to the harmful use of alcohol (World Health Organization (WHO), 2018). Harmful use is linked to 200 health conditions; including liver disease, cardiovascular diseases, and poor mental health (WHO, 2018). The misuse of alcohol has negative health and social consequences for the individual and wider society. The WHO aims to cut the harmful use of alcohol by 10% by 2025 (WHO, 2018). Recent evidence suggests this target is unlikely to be met, instead it appears that annual consumption of alcohol globally is on the increase (Manthey et al., 2019). Brief alcohol interventions offer one means of rapidly intervening to reduce and avoid harmful alcohol use, particularly via electronic personalised feedback: the aim of this chapter is to review the intervention content, evidence base, effectiveness, future challenges and opportunities associated with the use of electronic brief interventions for alcohol