10-Year outcomes of an emergency department delivered brief intervention with adolescent alcohol and other substance users

Alcohol use by young people has major health and societal costs. This project is a 10-year follow-up of a cohort (n=27) of adolescents with an alcohol or other drug (AOD) related presentation at emergency departments in Western Australia, and who participated in a randomised trial (between 2000 and 2002) of a brief intervention (compared with treatment as usual). The intervention was designed to increase the proportion of people who attended community based treatment for their AOD problem, for example by booking appointments and follow-up phone calls. At 12 months the intervention was successful in achieving these linkages and in reducing ED presentations for the intervention group. The aim of this project is to quantify the cost savings to the hospital system of a brief intervention delivered to adolescents in ED over a 10 year period. The project is funded by the Western Australian Department of Health.