How effective are brief motivational interventions for reducing alcohol and drug use? A review of systematic reviews

Through a systematic review of reviews, this study analyses the effectiveness of the Brief Motivational Intervention (BMI) approach for reducing alcohol and substance consumption. To that end, it followed the methodology for a systematic search of systematic reviews on health interventions. The study followed the recommendations of the PRISMA declaration. The databases “Web of Science, WoS”, “Scopus” and “Proquest / PsycINFO” were searched for articles. The following search terms were used: [(“brief motivational intervention” or “brief motivational interviewing”) AND (“alcohol” OR “drug” OR “substances” or “DUI” or “DWI” or “SUB”)] AND (“systematic review” OR “meta-analysis” OR “meta-analysis” OR “literature review”). A total of 83 articles were found on the platforms (49 from Web of Science, 17 from Scopus and 12 from Proquest/Psycinfo). For each database, the search filters were set to only return articles that were reviews published in scientific journals, peer reviewed, written in English, and published between 2011 and 2024. Based on a reading of their titles and summaries, 67 articles were excluded for the following reasons: 13 were duplicates, 22 were individual studies and not reviews, 29 were not on BMI, and 3 were critical reviews. The criteria of the AMSTAR model/protocol were not met on several occasions. Overall, this study concluded that BMI was effective as a stand-alone intervention as well as in combination with other therapies, particularly in the case of moderate alcohol consumption, but not in the case of other drugs.