The aim was to evaluate an innovative pathway in police custody suites that aimed to specifically address alcohol-related health needs through screening and brief interventions by police custody staff. This paper presents a qualitative investigation of challenges involved in implementing the pathway. Qualitative interviews were carried out with 22 staff involved with commissioning and delivering the pathway; thematic analysis of interview data was then undertaken.

An overarching theme highlights the challenges and uncertainties of delivering brief alcohol interventions in the custody suite. These include challenges related to the setting, the confidence and competence of the staff, identifying for whom a brief intervention would be of benefit and the nature of the brief intervention.

Our findings show that there is a lack of clarity over how alcohol-related offending can be identified in police custody, whose role it is to do that and how to intervene.

Brief intervention services provide rapid, mobile and flexible short-term delivery of interventions to resolve mental health crises. These interventions may provide an alternative pathway to the emergency department or in-patient psychiatric services for children and young people (CYP), presenting with an acute mental health condition.

To synthesise evidence on the effectiveness of brief interventions in improving mental health outcomes for CYP (0–17 years) presenting with an acute mental health condition.

A systematic literature search was conducted, and the studies’ methodological quality was assessed. Five databases were searched for peer-reviewed articles between January 2000 and September 2022.

We synthesised 30 articles on the effectiveness of brief interventions in the form of (a) crisis intervention, (b) integrated services, (c) group therapies, (d) individualised therapy, (e) parent–child dyadic therapy, (f) general services, (g) pharmacotherapy, (h) assessment services, (i) safety and risk planning and (j) in-hospital treatment, to improve outcomes for CYP with an acute mental health condition. Among included studies, one study was rated as providing a high level of evidence based on the National Health and Medical Research Council levels of evidence hierarchy scale, which was a crisis intervention showing a reduction in length of stay and return emergency department visits. Other studies, of moderate-quality evidence, described multimodal brief interventions that suggested beneficial effects.

This review provides evidence to substantiate the benefits of brief interventions, in different settings, to reduce the burden of in-patient hospital and readmission rates to the emergency department.

Individuals who self-harm have increased suicide rates. Brief interventions are associated with reduced repeated suicide attempts. However, very few previous studies investigated the acceptability of brief interventions before implementing new trials.

We aimed to explore the perceptions of individuals who self-harm toward a brief intervention, the Chinese version of the volitional help sheet (VHS-C), which encourages people to link a critical situation with an appropriate response.

Fourteen participants who presented to hospitals with self-harm were interviewed about their perspectives regarding the acceptability of the paper- and web-based VHS-C. Data were analysed with the framework method.

The participants could understand the intended goal of the VHS-C by reading the written instructions, but indicated that having verbal instructions would also help. They shared the reasons why they felt the VHS-C was helpful (e.g. relatable contents, useful coping strategies and appropriate instructions that made them feel understood) or unhelpful (e.g., being not specific enough, not useful during the crisis and triggering negative emotional responses). Some indicated that the VHS-C might not be applicable to people experiencing ongoing distress in emergency departments. Most participants preferred the web-based to the paper-based VHS-C, and suggested that the format and frequency of follow-up reminders could leave the patient to decide.

The contents of the VHS-C were acceptable for people who presented to hospitals with self-harm. The VHS-C may be more helpful before individuals encounter suicidal thoughts than when they have an ongoing crisis.

To evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of a mobile-based brief intervention (BI), generate preliminary estimates of the impact of the BI and fine-tune the procedures for a definitive randomised controlled trial.

Parallel three-arm single-blind individually randomised controlled pilot trial. Eligible and consenting participants were randomised to receive mobile-based BI, face-to-face BI and information leaflet.

Educational institutions, workplaces and primary care centres.

Adult hazardous drinkers.

Seventy-four participants were randomised into the three trial arms; forty-eight (64·9 %) completed outcome evaluation. There were no significant differences between the three arms on change in any of the drinking outcomes. There were however in two-way comparisons. Face-to-face BI and mobile BI were superior to active control for percent days heavy drinking at follow-up, and mobile BI was superior to active control for mean grams ethanol consumed per week at follow-up.

The encouraging findings about feasibility and preliminary impact warrant a definitive trial of our intervention and if found to be effective, our intervention could be a potentially scalable first-line response to hazardous drinking in low-resource settings.

People with personality disorder experience long waiting times for access to psychological treatments, resulting from a limited availability of long-term psychotherapies and a paucity of evidence-based brief interventions. Mentalisation-based treatment (MBT) is an efficacious therapeutic modality for personality disorder, but little is known about its viability as a short-term treatment.

We aimed to evaluate mental health, client satisfaction and psychological functioning outcomes before and after a 10-week group MBT programme as part of a stepped-care out-patient personality disorder service.

We examined routinely collected pre–post treatment outcomes from 176 individuals (73% female) aged 20–63 years, attending a dedicated out-patient personality disorder service, who completed MBT treatment. Participants completed assessments examining mentalising capacity, client satisfaction, emotional reactivity, psychiatric symptom distress and social functioning.

Post-MBT outcomes suggested increased mentalising capacity (mean difference 5.1, 95% CI 3.4–6.8, P < 0.001) and increased client satisfaction with care (mean difference 4.3, 95% CI 3.3–5.2, P < 0.001). Post-MBT emotional reactivity (mean difference −6.3, 95% CI −8.4 to −4.3, P < 0.001), psychiatric symptom distress (mean difference −5.2, 95% CI −6.8 to −3.7, P < 0.001) and impaired social functioning (mean difference −0.7, 95% CI −1.2 to −0.3, P = 0.002) were significantly lower than pre-treatment. Improved mentalising capacity predicted improvements in emotional reactivity (β = −0.56, P < 0.001) and social functioning (β = −0.35, P < 0.001).

Short-term MBT as a low-intensity treatment for personality disorder was associated with positive pre–post treatment changes in social and psychological functioning. MBT as deployed in this out-patient service expands access to personality disorder treatment.

National guidance cautions against low-intensity interventions for people with personality disorder, but evidence from trials is lacking.

To test the feasibility of conducting a randomised trial of a low-intensity intervention for people with personality disorder.

Single-blind, feasibility trial (trial registration: ISRCTN14994755). We recruited people aged 18 or over with a clinical diagnosis of personality disorder from mental health services, excluding those with a coexisting organic or psychotic mental disorder. We randomly allocated participants via a remote system on a 1:1 ratio to six to ten sessions of Structured Psychological Support (SPS) or to treatment as usual. We assessed social functioning, mental health, health-related quality of life, satisfaction with care and resource use and costs at baseline and 24 weeks after randomisation.

A total of 63 participants were randomly assigned to either SPS (n = 33) or treatment as usual (n = 30). Twenty-nine (88%) of those in the active arm of the trial received one or more session (median 7). Among 46 (73%) who were followed up at 24 weeks, social dysfunction was lower (−6.3, 95% CI −12.0 to −0.6, P = 0.03) and satisfaction with care was higher (6.5, 95% CI 2.5 to 10.4; P = 0.002) in those allocated to SPS. Statistically significant differences were not found in other outcomes. The cost of the intervention was low and total costs over 24 weeks were similar in both groups.

SPS may provide an effective low-intensity intervention for people with personality disorder and should be tested in fully powered clinical trials.

Alcohol consumption during pregnancy potentially has significant effects on both mother and baby. The aim of the study was to determine the effectiveness of a brief intervention to reduce alcohol consumption during pregnancy.

This study was performed at the outpatient antenatal clinics of a large academic maternity teaching hospital in Dublin city centre. Six hundred and fifty-six women who drank alcohol before pregnancy were recruited at their first antenatal clinic visit. Drinking patterns before pregnancy, since becoming pregnant, and in later pregnancy (at ~32 weeks of gestation) were assessed using the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT). A controlled study was conducted – participants were allocated to either the brief intervention group (screening and 5 minutes of non-directive discussion of their drinking pattern) or a control group (screening and treatment as usual).

Before pregnancy, 57% of women consumed five or more units of alcohol per drinking occasion (i.e. binge drinking); during pregnancy, the rate of binge drinking fell to 4.8%. Sixty per cent of women who drank before pregnancy ceased drinking when pregnant, and a further 9% reduced their intake substantially. Four hundred and ninety-nine women were followed up in later pregnancy. The brief intervention did not produce any significant reduction in alcohol consumption above that attributable to pregnancy and comprehensive screening in antenatal care. Larger reductions in alcohol intake during pregnancy were associated with younger age, non-Irish nationality and greater intake of alcohol before first antenatal clinic visit.

Pregnancy itself produces abstinence and large reductions in alcohol consumption, even among women who drink relatively heavily. Consequently, a universal screening and brief intervention programme is not warranted but screening and targeted interventions could be appropriate such as repeated interventions for those who continue to binge drink. Future research could include evaluating interventions for those women who continue to binge drink during pregnancy and exploring ways of maintaining reductions in alcohol consumption among women who decreased consumption during pregnancy.

To assess current primary care childhood obesity prevention activity and experiences of general practitioners (GPs) and practice nurses in delivering the ‘Mealtime Magic’ brief intervention. To determine the acceptability of the brief intervention and reported impact upon confidence and behaviour of parents.

A gap persists in the evidence base regarding brief childhood obesity prevention interventions in primary care, where good opportunities for primary prevention work lie.

A quantitative and qualitative evaluation design, without control group, with post-intervention evaluation of parental outcomes and ‘before and after’ evaluation of healthcare professional perspectives was employed, using questionnaires. Five primary care practices in Worcestershire, England took part: six GPs, seven practice nurses (11 females and two males). 110 of 223 parents receiving the intervention completed follow-up measures (107 females, two males and one gender unknown; 106 White British). The intervention involved providing the ‘Mealtime Magic’ leaflet regarding childhood healthy eating behaviours, with verbal reinforcement of three main messages, to all parents with children aged five years and younger presenting to primary care over a six-week period. Staff received a 30-minute training session.

Twelve of 13 health professionals ranked childhood obesity of importance relative to other priorities. Secondary prevention activities were undertaken more frequently than primary prevention. All professionals found the intervention easy to deliver; 12 of 13 stated they would use the leaflet in the future. Reported professional confidence in knowledge of evidence-based healthy eating behaviour messages increased following intervention delivery. Resource barriers and perceived parental sensitivity with subject were reported. Ninety two percent (100/109) of parents stated the leaflet was helpful. Up to 52% (57/110) of parents reported more confidence regarding leaflet suggestions and up to 47% (49/105) reported positive behaviour changes. Evaluation of brief intervention approaches may help address perceived barriers to undertaking childhood obesity prevention work in primary care in the UK.