NURSING COMMUNITY 2
Nursing community
Primary prevention for alcohol use
One of the recommendations from the United States Preventive Service Task Force is
that clinicians in primary care settings should provide persons engaged in risky or hazardous
drinking, to include adults aged 18 years and above along with women, with brief behavioral
counseling interventions to reduce unhealthy alcohol use. In this case, primary prevention comes
in, as this kind of intervention aims at preventing the onset of a condition, and entails aspects
such as behavioral change interventions.
Secondary prevention for alcohol use and the value of screening
Conversely, the other recommendation from the United States Preventive Service Task
Force is that adult patients should be routinely screened for unhealthy alcohol use and be
provided with appropriate interventions, if needed. Screening is central to secondary prevention
as it helps in detecting a condition in its early stages before the symptoms appear while
intervening to slow or to stop its progression, thus maintaining and promoting health.
Consequently, the value of screening in the face of alcohol abuse is in line with the one specific
goal of healthy people 2020 which is to protect the health, safety and quality of life for all, and
this is according to CDC (2018).
Tertiary prevention for alcohol use
Last but not least, it is also recommended that more evidence should be added to the
current insufficient evidence so as to be able to effectively assess the balance of benefits and
harms of screening and brief behavioral counseling interventions for alcohol use in primary care
