Background: Addictive disorders are significant global public health burdens. Treatment uptake with these disorders is low and outcomes can be mixed. Electronic screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment (e-SBIRT) programs have potential to improve uptake and treatment outcomes. To date, however, no prior review of the literature has been conducted to gauge the effectiveness of e-SBIRT for addictive disorders.
Methods: We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of the literature concerning e-SBIRT for addictive disorders by surveying the MEDLINE, PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, Embase, and PsycInfo databases on January 17, 2023.
Results: Ten articles were included at analysis reporting evaluation of e-SBIRT interventions for substance use disorders including alcohol use in a variety of settings. No articles were identified regarding treatment for behavioral addictions such as disordered/harmful gambling. Meta-analysis found e-SBIRT to be effective at reducing drinking frequency in the short term only. e-SBIRT was not found to be advantageous over control conditions for abstinence or other treatment outcomes. We identified and described common components of e-SBIRT programs and assessed the quality of available evidence, which was generally poor.
Conclusion: The present findings suggest that research regarding e-SBIRT is concentrated exclusively on higher-risk substance use. There is a lack of consensus regarding the effectiveness of e-SBIRT for addictive disorders. Although common features exist, e-SBIRT designs are variable, which complicates identification of the most effective components. Overall, the quality of outcome evidence is low, and furthermore, high-quality experimental treatment evaluation research is needed.
Keywords: SBIRT; addiction; brief intervention; e-SBIRT; health screening; meta-analysis; substance use; systematic review.