A warm, reflective, and understanding style of delivering brief intervention is more effective than an aggressive, confrontational, or coercive style. Miller and Rollnick found that when they used an empathetic counseling style, patients' drinking was reduced by 77 percent, as opposed to 55 percent when a confrontational approach was used. Self-Efficacy or Optimism of the Patient. Health professionals delivering brief intervention commonly encourage patients to rely on their own resources to bring about change and to be optimistic about their ability to change their drinking behavior. Establishing a Drinking Goal.
Patients are more likely to change their drinking behavior when they are involved in goal setting.
The drinking goal usually is negotiated between the patient and physician and may be presented in writing as a prescription from the doctor or as a contract signed by the patient. The health care professional continues to follow up on the patient's progress and provide ongoing support. Followup may take the form of telephone calls from office staff, repeat office visits, or repeat physical examinations or laboratory tests. Much of the research investigating the relationship between an individual's readiness to change and actual behavior change is based on studies of smoking cessation. Research findings have been applied to reducing drinking.