Problem drinkers were able to cut back on their alcohol consumption after just six telephone counseling sessions, according to researchers who concluded that such interventions can be an effective way to help hard-to-reach drinkers.

Reuters reported July 24 that men and women whose alcohol problems were detected by screening during regular doctor's visits were helped by telephone counseling even though they had not intended to seek alcohol treatment.

The study involved 900 adults with alcohol disorders; the telephone counseling group was compared to a group that only received a pamphlet on maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Researchers found that telephone counseling was especially effective with men, who cut their total alcohol use by 17 percent and their risky drinking days by 31 percent.

"The study shows that we shouldn't just give up on those alcohol-dependent patients who cannot or choose not to get treatment," said lead study author Richard L. Brown of the University of Wisconsin at Madison. "If we can identify these folks in primary care waiting rooms and provide telephone counseling ... we can start to help many of these patients."

"Getting patients to participate in the counseling sessions was actually much easier than we thought it would be," Brown added. "Once they had established rapport with that counselor over the phone, many patients really looked forward to their sessions."

The research appears in the August 2007 issue of the journal Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research.