Program tries to identify problem drinkers before problems start

By Jane E. Brody

"Based on a 2001-02 nationwide survey of 43,000 adults conducted by the National Institutes of Health, the alcohol institute estimates that 30 percent of people 18 and older drink at levels that raise their risk of alcoholism. And since helping those people identify themselves before they get into trouble with alcohol is easier than treating alcoholism, the institute has begun a groundbreaking preventive program called Rethinking Drinking."

"The program includes a 16-page booklet for the public ("Rethinking Drinking: Alcohol and Your Health"), a product set for clinicians with a 34-page booklet ("Helping Patients Who Drink Too Much: A Clinician's Guide") and an interactive Web site for people who drink, http://rethinkingdrinking.niaaa.nih.gov/, complete with quizzes, calculators and other tools. ..."

"'This is a wellness project, patterned on the risk-reduction concept used to prevent other chronic diseases like heart disease and diabetes,' Dr. Mark Willenbring, the main architect (with Maureen Gardner) of the program, said in an interview. ..."

Full article available at http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/12/health/12brod.html?_r=2&ref=research