HOT TOPIC: What do you know about INEBRIA?

INEBRIA is in the process of reviewing its aims and objectives and so Niamh Fitzgerald spoke with INEBRIA’s current president Prof. Nick Heather, to find out more about the history of and original vision for the network. Here’s what she found out!

Where did INEBRIA come from? ‘INeBrIA’ was established as Phase IV of the WHO collaborative project on alcohol brief interventions came to an end in 2003. Key contributors at that time were Dr. Maristela Monteiro who came up with the catchy name of the network and Dr. Joan Colom who offered secretarial support from the health department of the Government of Catalonia which still continues today.
Importantly, the WHO Department of Mental Health & Substance Abuse were supportive from the start and still allow INEBRIA to use the WHO logo for conferences. The history of the network is described further in the recent issue (LINK to be added) of Drug and Alcohol Review dedicated to INEBRIA’s 2009 conference.

Why was INEBRIA established? Over and above the contributions of the Phase IV project to evidence and implementation of brief interventions, it was recognised that the coming together of researchers and practitioners with a common interest in this approach had additional benefits including:

• Exchange of learning and current research.
• Allowing time and space for consideration of key questions on brief interventions between key interested individuals (who may be working in relative isolation in their own countries).
• The establishment of collaborative working relationships and long-standing friendships

What now for INEBRIA? In looking at the aims and objectives, it may be worth thinking about how important these factors are for INEBRIA going forward. How can new members be supported to achieve the above benefits? INEBRIA is a friendly organisation, but what more can be done to build relationships in between annual conferences? This question will become more important as conferences are held all over the world, making it less likely that members will be able to attend every year.

What do you want from INEBRIA? Let us know at the bulletin and we will report back.

Niamh Fitzgerald, niamh@createconsultancy.com

2010 CONFERENCE DIGEST:
IMPLEMENTATION OF BRIEF INTERVENTIONS

At the 2010 INEBRIA conference, key themes discussed were implementation of brief interventions and BI research in criminal justice, pharmacy and antenatal settings as well as internet-based. In this issue of the news bulletin we are highlighting aspects of three plenary presentations on implementation and will cover other aspects in later issues.

Siw Carlfjord discussed the science of implementation generally which is an increasing field. She reminded us that good ideas can take a long time to be implemented. Her own adapted theoretical model of the factors affecting how successfully an innovation will be implemented consists of four factors:

1. The Innovation itself;
2. The Adopters (who are expected to change what they do);
3. The Context (or environment) and
4. The Implementation Activities.

See her full presentation.

Sven Andreasson presented his thoughts on how brief interventions could be ‘institutionalised’ or mainstreamed into routine practice. He presented an interesting scale for determining the level of ‘institutionalisation’ of an innovation and emphasised 4 points he felt to be important:

1. Shift focus of implementation activities from health professionals to managers.
2. Shift focus from doctors to nurses.
3. Get serious about screening.
4. Support treatment of all but severe dependence in primary care.

See his full presentation.

Antoni Gual presented the Catalan ‘Beveu Menys’ (Drink Less) project and the strategies used in the project for implementation across primary healthcare in Catalonia. Key learning points about implementation were:

• Take a motivational approach to changing the practice of professionals, authorities etc. (not just changing the drinking behaviour of patients). Implementation strategies can be inspired by the core values of motivational interviewing.
• Both a top down (dissemination via training) and bottom up (networking interested professionals who then spread the word) approach are important for institutionalisation.