Workplace-based interventions for the prevention and treatment of problematic substance use

Work-based interventions were evaluated in a narrative systematic review (Morse et al., 2022, 39 studies) and found no evidence of effect in treating and preventing substance use. More specifically:

• Workplace health promotion interventions could reduce alcohol consumption, but the quality of the evidence is low: out of seven interventions on health promotion, five found statistical significance. However, more research is needed due to the low quality of the studies and the lack of a control group.
• Workplace-based psychosocial and e-health interventions might not be effective. Most studies reported weak statistical evidence.

The authors discussed that the main difficulties of implementing workplace interventions are a lack of engagement in online interventions, male employees' hesitation to seek help, and confidentiality issues.