SynthesisSystematic reviews2014
Effectiveness of brief interventions as part of the Screening, Brief Intervention and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) model for reducing the nonmedical use of psychoactive substances: a systematic review.
Synthesis in Systematic reviews, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 41 papers, 8 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
41 citing papers in PubMed, 8 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- The effectiveness of digital training on screening, brief interventions, and referral to treatment (SBIRT) for medical and health professionals: a systematic review.British medical bulletin · 2025Pooled it
- Investigating for Whom Brief Substance Use Interventions Are Most Effective: An Individual Participant Data Meta-analysis.Prevention science : the official journal of the Society for Prevention Research · 2023Pooled it
- Efficacy of Brief Intervention for Unhealthy Drug Use in Outpatient Medical Care: a Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.Journal of general internal medicine · 2022Pooled it
- Effects of brief substance use interventions delivered in general medical settings: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2022Pooled it
- The efficacy of Personalized Normative Feedback interventions across addictions: A systematic review and meta-analysis.PloS one · 2021Pooled it
- Brief interventions targeting long-term benzodiazepine and Z-drug use in primary care: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2020Pooled it
- Brief interventions for problem gambling: A meta-analysis.PloS one · 2019Pooled it
- Specialty substance use disorder services following brief alcohol intervention: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2015Pooled it
- Reducing Khat use among Somalis living in Kenya: a controlled pilot study on the modified ASSIST-linked brief intervention delivered in the community.BMC public health · 2022Trial
- The short-term impact on economic outcomes of SBIRT interventions implemented in reproductive health care settings.Journal of substance abuse treatment · 2021Trial
- Effect of screening, brief intervention and referral to treatment for unhealthy alcohol and other drug use in mental health treatment settings: a randomized controlled trial.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2021Trial
- Comorbid psychopathology and everyday functioning in a brief intervention study to reduce khat use among Somalis living in Kenya: description of baseline multimorbidity, its effects of intervention and its moderation effects on substance use.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2017Trial
- A randomized trial of brief assessment interventions for young adults who use drugs in the club scene.Journal of substance abuse treatment · 2017Trial
- Cannabis and Young Users-A Brief Intervention to Reduce Their Consumption (CANABIC): A Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial in Primary Care.Annals of family medicine · 2017Trial
- Readiness to change is a predictor of reduced substance use involvement: findings from a randomized controlled trial of patients attending South African emergency departments.BMC psychiatry · 2016Trial
- Project QUIT (Quit Using Drugs Intervention Trial): a randomized controlled trial of a primary care-based multi-component brief intervention to reduce risky drug use.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2015Trial
- Optimizing outpatient pharmacologic treatment for veterans with alcohol use disorder using an academic detailing approach for primary care providers in the United States Department of Veterans Affairs: A retrospective quasi-experimental study.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2026Article
- Screening for Major Depression and Alcohol Use Disorder in Laundromats As a New Setting for Community- Based Engagement and Intervention.Community mental health journal · 2026Article
- Effectiveness of alcohol, smoking, and substance involvement screening test (ASSIST)-linked brief intervention in reducing tobacco and alcohol use among coal mine workers: An experience from a randomized controlled trial from West Bengal, India.Indian journal of psychiatry · 2026Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
18 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundThe purpose of this systematic review is to assess the effectiveness of brief interventions (BIs) as part of the Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) model for reducing the nonmedical use of psychoactive substances.
methodsBibliographic databases (including MEDLINE, Embase, The Cochrane Library, CINAHL, and PsycINFO to April 2012) and gray literature sources were searched. We included randomized controlled trials that opportunistically screened adolescents or adults and then provided a one-to-one, verbal BI to those at risk of substance-use harm. Of interest was the nonmedical use of psychoactive substances (for example, drugs prohibited by international law), excluding alcohol, nicotine, and caffeine. Interventions comprised four or fewer sessions and were compared with no/delayed intervention or provision of information only. Studies were assessed for bias using the Cochrane risk of bias tool. Results were synthesized narratively. Evidence was interpreted according to the GRADE framework.
resultsWe identified 8,836 records. Of these, five studies met our inclusion criteria. Two studies compared BI with no BI, and three studies compared BI with information only. Studies varied in characteristics such as substances targeted, screening procedures, and BI administered. Outcomes were mostly reported by a single study, leading to limited or uncertain confidence in effect estimates.
conclusionsInsufficient evidence exists as to whether BIs, as part of SBIRT, are effective or ineffective for reducing the use of, or harms associated with nonmedical use of, psychoactive substances when these interventions are administered to nontreatment-seeking, screen-detected populations. Updating this review with emerging evidence will be important.
trial registrationCRD42012002414.
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Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.