Alcohol Problem Screening Study – “Comfortably Engaging”

This project was conducted March 2001 to March 2002 and was funded by the Alcoholic Beverage Medical Research Foundation and Joint Grant Awards Program of the AAFP and the AAFP Foundation. Thirteen family physicians from the National Research Network enrolled 665 patients in this randomized trial, which compares two screening tools for problem drinking. The CAGE tool and a single question -- assessing frequency of use, patient and clinician comfort, and patient engagement in change.A manuscript from this study was published in the Annals of Family Medicine entitled “Comfortably engaging: Which approach to alcohol screening should we use?”  

Key Findings and Publications

Clinicians and patients reported similar comfort with the CAGE questions and the single-question screening tools for problem drinking, and the two instruments were equal in their ability to engage the patient. In Missouri, the single question was more likely to be used.

Comfortably engaging: Which approach to alcohol screening should we use? Vinson DC, Galliher JM, Reidinger C, et al. Ann Fam Med 2004;2:398-404.