Alcohol screening and brief intervention in the workplace: Opportunities for early identification and intervention

Objective: To identify best (and promising) practices, products/services, and interest around alcohol screening and brief intervention (SBI) in the workplace. To develop SBI approaches that are feasible and testable in workplace settings. Methods: Performed a comprehensive literature review covering the last 10 years. Using a cross-sectional design, employers and vendors of employee assistance and managed behavioral healthcare completed an online assessment and in-depth telephone interview. A product development workgroup comprised of employer, vendor, drug testing, and business coalition representatives; employee assistance and occupational health professionals; clinicians; and researchers was convened to shape the development of SBI approaches and supporting implementation and evaluation materials. Results: There's substantial empirical support for SBI in medical, but not non-medical settings. Many vendors offer SBI products; however, many employers don't conduct SBI (often relying on drug testing to detect alcohol problems) despite being very interested in implementing SBI in their worksite. Employers doing some level of SBI generally do not use a specific model; however, occupational health/wellness and employee assistance programs appear promising for delivering SBI. Conclusions: A systematic investigation of promising approaches is needed to determine “best practice” in workplaces. Opportunities exist for integration of SBI into existing workplace policy and processes and for providing training to employee assistance, occupational health, and supervisory staff. The workplace remains underutilized for delivering alcohol SBI to workers. Implementation of SBI in workplaces is likely to increase early identification and early intervention, facilitate referral and treatment, reduce long-term healthcare utilization and cost, and improve health and productivity metrics.