Screening and Brief Interventions

HHD is leading the implementation of brief motivational interventions, an approach that has proven to be successful for treating alcohol problems. In our work with colleges and universities using the Brief Alcohol Screening and Intervention for College Students (BASICS), HHD discovered that many campuses were not creating the necessary infrastructure to sustain the program over time. Working with the researchers who developed BASICS, HHD created a training specifically to address this issue.

Recently, HHD staff also brokered a partnership of software companies, researchers, and health promotion staff at a leading university to design an online tool for assessing students on their alcohol use and providing feedback.

In addition, HHD is writing a manual on screening and brief intervention, under contract to the American Public Health Association, to help public health practitioners select effective screening tools, conduct screening and brief interventions in various settings, and refer clients to other community services, if necessary.