Delivering information and brief advice on alcohol (IBA) in social work and social care settings: an exploratory study

Abstract

Social workers and practitioners working in social care are potentially key players in the prevention of alcohol-related harm and harm reduction for people using services and their carers. This requires attention to workforce development alongside the selection of appropriate tools to support prevention strategies. We report findings from a UK exploratory study into the potential of using Identification and Brief Advice (IBA) as a tool for screening and prevention in social work and social care settings. Thirty-six social workers and social care practitioners attended one of two training workshops on IBA in the South East of England. Pre and postworkshop surveys (n ¼ 35 and n ¼ 20, respectively) and four post-workshop focus groups (n ¼ 36) were conducted with participants to explore the application of IBA taking into account the paradigmatic shift towards prevention and holistic approaches indicated in recent UK legislation and policy. Four themes emerged from the findings: (1) perceptions of the social work/social care role in responding to alcohol problems, (2) ethical concerns, (3) time conflicts and problems of delivering IBA and (4) the role of training. Further studies are needed to evaluate the effectiveness of motivational techniques and tools that social workers can use to promote preventative practise for alcohol-related harm. Different strategies are required to engage and support those working in social care to increase proactive engagement with problematic alcohol use in everyday practise settings.

Preferences for Delivering Brief Alcohol Intervention to Risky Drinking Parents in Children’s Social Care: A Discrete Choice Experiment

“…Despite this, there is no established preventative intervention for parental alcohol misuse ( McGovern et al., 2021 ). Further, there remains uncertainty about who is best placed to respond to these lower level alcohol needs and what severity and nature of alcohol-related concern merited intervention from social care ( Hafford-Letchfield et al., 2017 ). Typically, this results in many alcohol misusing parents receiving no intervention to reduce alcohol-related risk or in their referral into specialist treatment, despite both parents and treatment providers considering this to be inappropriate to their needs ( Forrester and Harwin, 2006 ).…”

“…Furthermore, little is understood about the acceptability of brief interventions to the social care workforce or the optimum implementation approach. In particular, it is unknown whether the brief intervention structure delivered within health settings would transfer well into children’s social care ( Hafford-Letchfield et al., 2017 ), wherein there are different working practices and priorities.…”

“…Children’s social care has responsibilities to protect or remove children from situations of significant harm, and therefore interactions with social care practitioners can be experienced as threatening by parents, resulting in their resistance to related intervention ( Forrester et al., 2012 ). Practitioners report that raising the issue of alcohol may heighten this threat and jeopardize any already difficult relationship ( Galvani et al., 2013 ; Hafford-Letchfield et al., 2017 ). It has also been noted that the limited guidance for social care practitioners in how to raise and respond to the alcohol needs of social care users is a barrier to intervening, particular in safeguarding contexts ( Hafford-Letchfield et al., 2017 ).…”

“…Practitioners report that raising the issue of alcohol may heighten this threat and jeopardize any already difficult relationship ( Galvani et al., 2013 ; Hafford-Letchfield et al., 2017 ). It has also been noted that the limited guidance for social care practitioners in how to raise and respond to the alcohol needs of social care users is a barrier to intervening, particular in safeguarding contexts ( Hafford-Letchfield et al., 2017 ). The aim of the current study is to examine the characteristics of brief intervention for alcohol misusing parents which children social care practitioners consider to be important and acceptable within this setting.…”

Promoting Alcohol Reduction in Non-Treatment Seeking parents (PAReNTS): a pilot feasibility cluster randomized controlled trial of brief alcohol interventions with parents in contact with child safeguarding services

“…They are often hesitant in initiating conversations about alcohol with parents ( Dance et al . 2014 ) and highlight that within a context of safeguarding children, discussing alcohol may jeopardize an already difficult relationship ( Hafford-Letchfield et al . 2017 ).…”