Integrating screening, brief intervention and referral to treatment (SBIRT) into an abortion clinic: an exploratory study of acceptability.

Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) is an effective means of identifying problematic substance use. We evaluated the acceptability of SBIRT in an abortion clinic via an anonymous survey of 100 participants. Clients were comfortable being asked about their substance use, receiving counseling, and treatment referral (mean Likert 1.1, 1.5, and 1.6, respectively) and were only minimally embarrassed when asked about substance use (mean Likert 3.6). These findings suggest that integrating SBIRT into an abortion clinic may be feasible. However, future studies are needed to assess the efficacy of abortion clinic SBIRT in reducing risky substance use.