Brief interventions in adolescents and young persons in Latin America: a scoping review

Abstract

Evidence indicates that Brief Interventions (BIs) are an effective methodfor reducing alcohol consumption and related problems among adolescents andyoung adults. Most previous research has come from high-income countries withdifferent cultural backgrounds and drinking practices from those of Latin-America,while the extent of evidence for BI efficacy among the latter remains unexplored.Objective: In this scoping review, we describe Latin-American research on BIamong adolescents and young adults. Methods: Data was compiled for each LatinAmerican country in the Medline, Lilacs, and Cochrane databases, withouttemporal or language restrictions. Database searches were complemented by handsearches. After eliminating repeated and unrelated articles, 22 articles wereincluded and analyzed separately by two investigators. Results: The selectedarticles were published between 2004 and 2020, and were from Brazil, Colombia,Mexico, and Argentina. Most were empirical studies, and near half wereexperimental with adequate randomization. Most of the studies were carried out ineducational contexts, such as universities and schools. The Alcohol Use DisorderIdentification Test (AUDIT) was the most used screening tool, although a widevariety of measures were used. Discussion: The main limitations of these articleswere small sample sizes, as well as a lack of unified outcome criteria. Theeffectiveness and the mechanisms underlying efficacy are areas in need of furtherresearch. Since 2004, there has been steady but still scarce research on BI amongadolescents and young adults. Advancement of public health will requireprioritizing efforts to further our understanding of BI in Latin-American contexts