Addressing the Binge Drinking Culture in Four Rural Communities

issue

Alcohol-related deaths are a leading cause of death in Wisconsin and the state tops the nation in harm and death associated with its drinking culture. Wisconsin adults report the highest rates of binge drinking in the country.  Rural communities may experience greater consequences with drinking problems because of limited access to substance abuse treatment. In response, we partnered community medicine personnel, a rural health cooperative and four rural hospitals to develop an intervention to increase screening for binge drinking behavior.

description

The community-academic partnership is in the process of implementing the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) at four hospitals to increase screening for patients that demonstrate binge drinking behaviors. Each hospital trained an on-site health educator that will screen patients and provide a brief follow-up intervention for patients that screen positively for binge drinking.

lessons learned

Implementing the AUDIT at four geographically dispersed rural locations can be challenging. We’ve recognized that the importance of having fully committed partners is critical to be able to make progress on the project quickly. Also, the rural health cooperative network structure has been instrumental in facilitating linkages among the four hospitals to ensure smooth implementation of the AUDIT into the hospital workflow. 

recommendations

It is important to have hospital leadership support and engagement at every level of the process. It is equally important to have project staff that believe “in the cause” to ensure steady commitment to the project’s objectives. Lastly, we recommend that geographically dispersed partnerships create opportunities for face-to-face meetings and virtual meetings to create group cohesion.