Lifestyle assessment: just asking makes a difference.

Problems encountered with opportunistic screening for alcohol‐related problems in patients attending an Accident and Emergency department

“…One possible bene® t, although unprovable and unquanti® able in this study, is that`just asking' can make a difference and increase intentions to take action. 17 Thus one barrier to the success of this study was imposed by the patients although, even with the low response rates, recruitment targets could ultimately have been achieved, albeit over a longer tim e frame, if all patients had been screened as proposed.…”

To what extent is female alcohol dependence and abuse known in the health care system? The use of multi‐source information in a Swedish population survey

“…"Unknown" alcoholism can be unknown in the sense that the alcohol problem is not recognized or sometimes even denied by the subject, the caregiver, or both. Skinner has found evidence of both types (18). Some people with ADA or problem drinking have never attended any treatment facility, or have not had legal or social problems requiring help or counselling.…”

“…This is natural and acceptable. However, when the alcohol problems remain unknown as a result of neglect, negative attitudes or lack of knowledge on the part of the medical staff, the resulting effects are inappropriate care offered to the patient (18,19), and presumably higher costs for society. We found several cases in which the laboratory tests were probably indicative of alcohol abuse (or a disease), but there was no notation of the possible cause of the elevation, or any sign that there had been a feedback on or follow-up of the findings.…”

Use of Computer Interview Data to Test Associations between Risk Factors and Pregnancy Outcomes

“…Computer interviews have proven to be an attractive alternative to paperand-pencil or face-to-face interviews and have been used in a variety of settings, including prenatal clinics, as a means of gathering data and providing health education information (2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7). There are a number of advantages in using a computer interview.…”