Welcome to the EPA 2022 Interactive Programme 

Organised by the EPA Section on Addictive Behaviours. Motivational interviewing is defined as a patient-centered and collaborative approach that guides people to initiate and maintain a strategy of behaviour change through the resolution of their ambivalence. This approach has become in the last decades the golden standard to manage addictions as opposed to classic confrontational models. Different meta-analysis, have demonstrated its moderate but robust effect in improving both adherence to treatment and addictive behaviours. Brief interventions have proven its efficacy in primary health settings, to help patients reduce their drug use, specially concerning alcohol and tobacco. Motivational adaptations of those brief counselling interventions have been developed and tested in recent years. In this course, attendees will receive training on how to use brief motivational interventions (BMI) with patients suffering addictive disorders in the Emergency Room. The course will address the following topics: • How to identify which clinical situations are, and are not, suitable for a brief intervention • Key elements of a successful brief motivational intervention • Barriers (and how to overcome them) to deliver BMI in the Emergency Room • Elements that influence adherence to treatment and successful referral • Review of the existing scientific evidence