Health Professionals’ Alcohol-Related Professional Practices and the Relationship between Their Personal Alcohol Attitudes and Behavior and Professional Practices: A Systematic Review

Health professionals’ personal health behaviors have been found to be associated with their practices with patients in areas such as smoking, physical activity and weight management, but little is known in relation to alcohol use. This review has two related strands and aims to: (1) examine health professionals’ alcohol-related health promotion practices; and (2) explore the relationship between health professionals’ personal alcohol attitudes and behaviors, and their professional alcohol-related health promotion practices. A comprehensive literature search of the Cochrane Library, MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO, CINAHL, British Nursing Index, Web of Science, Scopus and Science Direct (2007–2013) identified 26 studies that met the inclusion criteria for Strand 1, out of which six were analyzed for Strand 2. The findings indicate that health professionals use a range of methods to aid patients who are high-risk alcohol users. Positive associations were reported between health professionals’ alcohol-related health promotion activities and their personal attitudes towards alcohol (n = 2), and their personal alcohol use (n = 2). The findings have some important implications for professional education. Future research should focus on conducting well-designed studies with larger samples to enable us to draw firm conclusions and develop the evidence base.