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ED interventions not effective in reducing drinking, domestic violence

Women who are heavy drinkers and in abusive relationships did not experience improved health outcomes following a brief motivational intervention in the emergency department, according to recently published data in JAMA.

“For women experiencing [intimate partner violence] and heavy drinking, the use of a brief motivational intervention in the ED compared with assessed and no-contact controls did not significantly reduce the days of heavy drinking or incidents of [intimate partner violence]. These findings do not support a brief motivational intervention in this setting,” Karin V. Rhodes, MD, MS, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, and colleagues wrote.

Researchers conducted a randomized clinical trial to assess the efficacy of a brief motivational intervention on reducing heavy drinking coinciding with intimate-partner violence (IPV) among women who visited the emergency department.

Participants (n = 600), were divided into three groups: the intervention group, the assessed group and the no-contact group. The no-contact group was assessed at 3 months following their emergency department (ED) visit, the assessed group received weekly evaluations for 12 weeks following ED visit, and the intervention group received a 20 to 30 minute manual-guided motivational intervention at the ED, in addition to weekly evaluations for 12 weeks following ED visit.

Results demonstrated that no significant difference in weekly decrease of experiencing IPV (OR = 1.02; 95% CI, 0.98-1.06) or heavy drinking (OR = 0.99; 95% CI, 0.96-1.03) was seen between the intervention and assessment groups.

“We did find that over time, reports of experiencing and perpetrating IPV and days of heavy drinking decreased significantly within the intervention and control groups alike. However, there was no evidence that these outcomes were influenced by the intervention,” Rhodes and colleagues wrote. – by Casey Hower

Disclosures: Rhodes reports no relevant financial disclosures. Please see the full study for a list of all other researchers’ relevant financial disclosures.