Screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment (SBIRT) for alcohol and other drug use among adolescents: Evaluation of a pediatric residency curriculum

The objective of this study was to evaluate the integration of a screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment (SBIRT) curriculum for alcohol and other drug use into a pediatric residency program. Pediatric and medicine/pediatric residents in an adolescent medicine rotation located in an urban teaching hospital participated in the study. Main outcome measures were pre-and post-training knowledge scores, performance of the Brief Negotiation Interview (BNI), training satisfaction, and adoption of the BNI into clinical practice. Thirty-four residents were trained. Significant pre-to post-training improvements were seen in knowledge scores (P <.001) and performance as measured by the BNI Adherence Scale (P <.001). Residents reported high satisfaction immediately post-training and at 30 days on a 1-5 Likert scale: mean 1.41 to 1.59 (1=very satisfied) (P=0.23). Over a 9-month period, 53% of residents documented performing at least 1 BNI, of which 2/3 reported 2 BNIs in a subsequent clinical setting. The results show that integrating a SBIRT curriculum into a pediatric residency program increases residents knowledge and skills.