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Effects of substance use screening and brief intervention on health-related quality of life

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Abstract

Purpose

Screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment interventions have been shown to positively impact alcohol use. These programs utilize motivational interviewing techniques in an effort to reduce risky substance use among those at elevated risk of developing a disorder. However, there is a dearth of research assessing positive impacts above and beyond changes in alcohol use. This study examines potential benefits of brief interventions, utilizing motivation interviewing, on mental and physical quality of life.

Methods

The present quasi-experimental study examined changes in health-related quality of life among individuals presenting at urban emergency departments. The analyses included the use of propensity score matching to minimize potential biases resulting from differences between groups at baseline.

Results

The results indicated that the intervention group experienced significant increases in perceptions of mental health over those of the comparison group, regardless of changes in substance use.

Conclusions

These findings have implications for practice, as they suggest that brief substance abuse interventions delivered in the emergency department settings may have effects beyond those targeted by the intervention. Specifically, brief substance abuse interventions may positively impact mental health, thus enhancing the quality of life among targets of the intervention.

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Funding

This work was supported by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration [Grant # 7U79TI 1019545–01].

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, 30302, USA

    J. L. Zorland, D. Gilmore, R. Borgman, J. Emshoff, J. Akin & G. P. Kuperminc

  2. Institute of Public & Preventive Health, Georgia Regents University, Augusta, GA, 30912, USA

    J. A. Johnson

  3. Department of Family Medicine, NavicentHealth and Mercer University School of Medicine, Macon, GA, 31206, USA

    J. P. Seale

  4. NavicentHealth, Macon, GA, 31206, USA

    S. Shellenberger

Authors
  1. J. L. Zorland
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  2. D. Gilmore
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  3. J. A. Johnson
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  4. R. Borgman
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  5. J. Emshoff
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  6. J. Akin
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  7. J. P. Seale
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  8. S. Shellenberger
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  9. G. P. Kuperminc
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to J. L. Zorland.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Zorland, J.L., Gilmore, D., Johnson, J.A. et al. Effects of substance use screening and brief intervention on health-related quality of life. Qual Life Res 27, 2329–2336 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-018-1899-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-018-1899-z

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