Brief Intervention by Community Health Workers for Unhealthy Drinking in Latinos

Key objectives of the intervention are as follows: (1) identify health and personal goals and develop discrepancies between goals and current actions, (2) provide feedback related to risks associated with the participant's drinking (e.g., driving after drinking, liver disease), (3) provide normative feedback about the participant's pattern of drinking to alcohol use in the US among Latinos in the participant's age and gender group, (4) discuss reasons for drinking (e.g., feeling isolated from family, machismo, low status employment), (5) weigh the pros and cons of drinking and reasons to reduce drinking (e.g., to better provide for the family, improving family relationships), (6) negotiate a plan for reducing drinking and/or seeking help, (7) recognize personal strengths in the process of change (e.g., religiosity, desire to provide for family), and (8) identify needed social and health services and explore potential barriers (e.g., transportation).

The alcohol education brochure will address health risks associated with alcohol use and will provide information on low-risk drinking.