Strategies to increase community-based intervention research aimed at reducing excessive alcohol consumption and alcohol-related harm.

There is a need for evidence to guide alcohol harm reduction programs at the population, system or community level. Such evidence should be derived from methodologically rigorous intervention research. Furthermore, overviews of research output indicate that while interventions are occurring in this field, the dominance of descriptive research continues. Here we present suggestions regarding the most important facilitators of producing high-quality intervention research aimed at reducing alcohol consumption and alcohol-related harm at the population or community level. These suggestions are guided and supported by researchers in the field, whose perceptions were sought through a Web-based survey. Routine collection of relevant data, publication of negative results and reconsideration of funding priorities were ranked highest in terms of their importance in increasing intervention research. The importance of the strategies is marred by limitations of feasibility, clearly acting as a barrier to their adoption. It is likely to be necessary to overcome these limitations in order to achieve change.
(© 2010 Australasian Professional Society on Alcohol and other Drugs.)