Brief interventions to promote behavioral change in primary care settings, a review of their effectiveness for smoking, alcohol and physical inactivity.

The brief intervention is a therapeutic strategy suggested to address behavioral changes associated with risk factors for chronic non-communicable diseases and there is ample evidence of its effectiveness. However, this evidence is sustained by various definitions of “brief intervention”, a fact that makes the clinical application of this strategy difficult. This literature review article aimed to conduct a search for systematic reviews in the Epistemonikos database in order to identify common factors in the definition of “brief intervention” and summarize some brief intervention strategies frequently used in primary health care.

Communication skills training for healthcare professionals working with people who have cancer.

Background: This is an updated version of a review that was originally published in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews in 2004, Issue 2. People with cancer, their families and carers have a high prevalence of psychological stress which may be minimised by effective communication and support from their attending healthcare professionals (HCPs). Research suggests communication skills do not reliably improve with experience, therefore, considerable effort is dedicated to courses that may improve communication skills for HCPs involved in cancer care.