CASBIRT: An Early Intervention Approach
CASBIRT services are part of a national project funded by the U.S. Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) to demonstrate the viability and efficacy of integrating routine alcohol and other drug screening, brief intervention and referral to treatment services into primary care settings such as emergency rooms, trauma centers, and neighborhood healthcare clinics.
The primary goal of the project is to seize the “teachable moment” of the medical visit to identify non-dependent but at-risk alcohol and drug users and provide an on-the-spot motivational intervention for willing patients over the age of eighteen. In this model, services are provided before there is a need for costly specialized treatment and before an array of serious medical conditions emerge resulting from alcohol/drug use and misuse.
Changing the risky behaviors of non-dependent users improves long-term individual health outcomes and the health and safety of the community-at-large. Utilizing a motivationally-based peer “health educator model,” this early intervention approach helps stop problems before they start, reducing healthcare costs due to fewer accidents and visits to trauma and emergency room.
The County of San Diego is one of two regions in California providing CASBIRT services. One program is managed by the San Diego State University Research Foundation on behalf of the San Diego State University Center for Alcohol and Drug Studies and Services. The other is administered by the University of California at Los Angeles. The SDSU Principal Investigators/Program Directors are Ray DiCiccio, Adjunct Professor and John Clapp, Professor, School of Social Work, SDSU.
The national SBIRT demonstration project is funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Agency (SAMHSA). The California SBIRT project is administered by the California Department of Alcohol & Drug Programs (ADP) and managed by the County of San Diego Alcohol and Drug Services Department. The San Diego State University Research Foundation, on behalf of the SDSU Center for Alcohol and Drug Studies and Services is the contracted program agent.
Screenings-To-Date
Over the past year, we have incorporated twelve health care sites into the SBIRT program. During that same period, highly trained, bilingual health educators have screened over 28,000 patients, provided over 7500 motivational interventions to patients at risk for health problems and made over 1600 referrals to substance abuse treatment and smoking cessation services.