Brief interventions are recognized by WHO as an effective measure to help people quit tobacco, reduce or stop alcohol use and increase physical activity. They can also help to achieve and maintain healthy eating behaviours and manage weight for those living with overweight and obesity. Brief interventions can translate to significant health benefits at population level when systematically applied to a large proportion of people. The uptake of these interventions in the WHO European Region, however, remains low. This manual is an integral part of the WHO European Office for the Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases BRIEF project. The manual provides a guide to implementing brief intervention programmes in primary care settings, highlighting facilitators and barriers to implementation. It emphasizes an integrated approach to brief interventions, dealing with all four main behavioural risk factors – tobacco use, alcohol use, unhealthy eating and physical inactivity – and the physiological risk factor of increased body mass index. The manual is in three parts: Part 1 describes the background and approaches to implementing primary care-based brief intervention programmes; Part 2 consists of annexes that present flow diagrams and more detailed guidance for delivery of brief interventions by primary care providers; and Part 3 presents supplementary materials that set out behavioural and cultural insights considerations on the use of brief interventions and examples of work being done on brief interventions in the Region.

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World Health Organization (WHO)