Feasibility of brief intermention in the workplace for the detection and treatment of excessive alcohol consumption.

The aim of this study was to see whether brief intervention, a method used in the health care services, can be useful in the workplace. At routine health check-ups carried out by the occupational health service (OHS), employees were offered the opportunity to check their alcohol-use habits. Of the 333 employees who were offered alcohol-use screening, only six (2%) failed to participate. Of the remaining 327, 21% (n=68) screened positive for excessive alcohol consumption and were contacted by the OHS. The majority of these, 43 (62%), accepted a further check-up of their alcohol consumption. A much higher percentage of those who were contacted by telephone (80%) than those who were contacted by letter (17%) subsequently came to the OHS. One probable spin-off effect of the project was that 23 persons outside the screened group contacted the OHS about their alcohol abuse problems. The results indicate that it is feasible to use screening and secondary preventive methods at the workplace to discover alcohol abuse.