Effectiveness Bank Bulletins

Recent evaluation studies with important practice implications. Latest bulletin listed first. Move mouse over date to see contents list. Click on date for full bulletin or in contents list for selected items. Click HERE and enter e-mail address to receive alerts of new bulletins.

2009

• 1 March
  English health advisory body recommends high coverage needle exchange ... Needle exchange works in prison; bleach second best ... Methadone maintenance works for prisoners too ... Heroin maintenance review portrays the practice reality as well as the outcomes ...
• 26 February
  Accreditation drives up US treatment outcomes, cost-containment systems drive them down ... Intensive, continuing, holistic, practical support helps welfare mothers escape dependency ... Housing and work help homeless and workless; benefits of yoking to abstinence less clear ... GPs save time by 'as needed' consultations after brief alcohol interventions ...
• 23 February
  Rare review of the evidence on whether drug law enforcement works ... Britain's doctors tell government what they should do about problem drinking ... Is all it takes to tell people how their drinking compares to the norm? ... Leading UK clinicians offer evidence-based guidance on diagnosis and management of drinking problems ...
• 19 January
  UK project enables at-risk children of (former) drug using parents to safely live at home ... Choice of alcohol therapy matters little ... Needy clients do as well in day hospital as in residential care ... First randomised trial finds little benefit and some risks in testing pupils for drugs ...
• 8 January
  UK study says minimum alcohol pricing and promotion controls will bring major benefits ... Methadone-maintained do just as well as opioid-free therapeutic community residents ... Universal provision versus targeting prevention at high risk youth ... Too few syringe disposal sites? Cafes, churches and shopping centre toilets can plug the gap ...

2008

• 17 December
  ‘Real world’ trial finds emergency patients drink less after brief intervention ... Multi-national WHO study trials primary care brief intervention for illegal drug use ... Should methadone maintenance be started before prisoners are released? ... Does residential rehabilitation deliver more heroin abstinence per £ than methadone? ...
• 8 December
  Reducing alcohol harm: health services in England ... Measuring performance of brief alcohol counselling in medical settings ... Screening, brief intervention and referral to treatment for drug and alcohol use ... Network support for drinking and client-treatment matching ... Primary care alcohol intervention: ranking health impact and cost effectiveness ...
• 7 November
  Benefits of residential care preserved by systematic, persistent and welcoming aftercare prompts ... Internationally proven community alcohol crime and harm reduction programmes feasible in Britain ... Brief contact and written advice as effective as a longer talk for heavy drinking hospital patients ... International review and UK guidance on merits of buprenorphine versus methadone maintenance ...
• 7 August
  Universal screening for alcohol problems in primary care fails in Denmark ... School-based smoking prevention: popular peers can help ... Needle exchange helps prevent bacterial as well as viral infections ... Home visits reduce risk to children of drug treatment patients ...
• 9 April
  Style not content key to matching patients to therapeutic approaches ... Still hard to find reasons for matching patients to therapies ... Helping drug treatment patients find work pays (some) dividends in Scotland ... Substance-focused initiatives not only way schools help prevent risky substance use ...
• 14 February
  High risk of death for opiate detoxification completers ... Female drinkers also benefit from couples therapy ... Harnessing peer interaction in school-based drug prevention can backfire ... Needle exchange coverage key to reducing infection risk ...
• 7 January
  Patchy performance of UK offender treatment initiatives ... Botched response to crack using offenders ... Treatment on bail makes little discernable difference ... Testing on arrest scatter gun nets some extra treatment entrants ... Testing children pointless but arrest referral offers early intervention opportunities ... ‘Most promising' alcohol prevention programme tried with poor black US families ... Self-financing resident-run houses maintain recovery after treatment ... Concern over abstinence outcomes in Scotland's treatment services ...