Barriers and Facilitators in Implementing “Prevention for Positives” Alcohol-Reduction Support: The Perspectives of Directors and Providers in Hospital-Based HIV Care Centers

HIV-infected patients have considerable need for alcohol reduction support, and HIV care providers are strategically placed to implement a “prevention for positives” alcohol-reduction approach through alcohol screening and brief interventions (SBIs). To facilitate this approach, we provided alcohol SBI education and training to HIV care providers in four hospital-based, New York City HIV Care Centers in 2007. Interviews with the medical directors and 14 of the HIV care providers who attended the training identified barriers to implementing alcohol SBIs. These included limited time for alcohol screening, patients’ incomplete disclosure of alcohol use, providers’ perceptions that alcohol use is not a major problem for their patients, and provider specialization that assigns patients with problematic alcohol use to specifically designated providers. Identified facilitators for alcohol SBI implementation included adequate time to conduct the SBI; availability of information, tools, and key points to emphasize with HIV-infected patients; and use of a brief alcohol screening tool.