Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) in Psychotherapy: A Quality Improvement Project for Alcohol Use in Psychotherapy

Substance abuse is a major problem in the United States. Previous research indicates that the use of Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) for alcohol use improves outcomes in at-risk patients. The purpose of this study was to determine if using a SBIRT toolkit could reduce the use of alcohol in a psychotherapy agency. Six agency psychotherapy providers attended an intervention session where an SBIRT toolkit was introduced. The toolkit was specifically designed for the agency and was presented. A practice session followed. Here, the providers were paired and practiced the skills outlined in the toolkit. The primary intervention used in the toolkit for brief intervention was motivational interviewing, which was the focus of the practice session. Participants' use of SBIRT in their practice was significant from pre- to post-intervention. All participants indicated that they had not used SBIRT with their clients in the past, but that they either had or planned to use SBIRT in their future practice. Participants also improved their knowledge of SBIRT tools through questions addressing how to utilize the toolkit and what the various pieces of SBIRT include. The median knowledge scores from the pre- and post-intervention surveys differed significantly (p=0.000327). The actual pre- to post-intervention knowledge scores were 3 and 7.17 out of 9, respectively. The results of this study showed that providing an SBIRT toolkit intervention improved the knowledge and use of SBIRT in a psychotherapy agency. Limitations included the small sample size and the time over which the use of the toolkit was observed.