Abstract
Alcohol consumption rates of Korean men and women are 85.8% and 65.4%, respectively. In regard to the amount of drinking, the highest frequency in men, among 37.2%, was over 10 glasses and in women was 1-2 glasses (1 glass, 12-14 g of alcohol) per day. Moderate drinking was defined as 2 glasses per day for men and 1 glass per day for women. Drinking beyond the moderate level could be risky or problematic. Alcohol related problems such as liver disease, cancer, cerebrovascular disease, accidents, crimes, injuries, and social and family problems in Korea create a great socioeconomic burden and threaten public health. Evidence-based treatments for problematic drinking, such as brief intervention, behavior change counseling, and motivational enhancement interviewing or therapy, have been suggested. An especially effective method would be motivation enhancement treatment (MET) due to since it is a client-centered approach and enhances self-efficacy based decisional balance. The major techniques of MET are feedback, responsibility, advice about changing, menu of change options, empathic counseling, self efficacy. The success factors for MET are sit squarely, open posture, lean toward patient, eye contact, relax posture. However, scientific accumulation of research results on the benefit of counseling for problematic drinking in Korea is still insufficient to provide the evidence for above treatment techniques.
References
1. Korea Centers for Disease Control & Prevention. Community nutritional survey. 2008. Cheongwon: Korea Centers for Disease Control & Prevention.
2. The Korean Academy of Family Medicine. Health promotion in Korean. 2004. Seoul: Gyechukmunwhasa;695.
3. Helping patients who drink too much: a clinician's guide [Internet]. U.S Department of Health & Human Services. 2005. cited 2011 Sep 19. Washington DC: U.S. Department of Health & Human Services;Available from: http://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/Practitioner/CliniciansGuide2005/guide.pdf.
4. Lee HK, Lee CT, Kweon YS. Developing effective guideline for moderate drinking. J Korean Acad Addict Psychiatry. 2006. 10:73–85.
5. Kim MK, Ko MJ, Han JT. Alcohol consumption and mortality from all-cause and cancers among 1.34 million Koreans: the results from the Korea national health insurance corporation's health examinee cohort in 2000. Cancer Causes Control. 2010. 21:2295–2302.
![crossref](/image/icon/bnr_ref_cross.gif)
![crossref](/image/icon/bnr_ref_cross.gif)
6. Lee KW, Park BJ, Kang HT, Lee YJ. Alcohol-drinking patterns and metabolic syndrome risk: the 2007 Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Alcohol. 2011. 45:499–505.
![crossref](/image/icon/bnr_ref_cross.gif)
![crossref](/image/icon/bnr_ref_cross.gif)
7. Sull JW, Yi SW, Nam CM, Choi K, Ohrr H. Binge drinking and hypertension on cardiovascular disease mortality in Korean men and women: a Kangwha cohort study. Stroke. 2010. 41:2157–2162.
![crossref](/image/icon/bnr_ref_cross.gif)
![crossref](/image/icon/bnr_ref_cross.gif)
8. Kim HJ, Song IH. Depressive mood, suicidal ideation, and alcohol drinking behavior among married employees. Ment Health Soc Work. 2010. 36:1–30.
9. Han MA, Kim KS, Ryu SY, Kang MG, Park J. Associations between smoking and alcohol drinking and suicidal behavior in Korean adolescents: Korea Youth Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance, 2006. Prev Med. 2009. 49:248–252.
![crossref](/image/icon/bnr_ref_cross.gif)
![crossref](/image/icon/bnr_ref_cross.gif)
10. Kwon JD, Kim YJ, Um TY. Suicide ideation among older adults who live alone with care services: a moderating effect of alcohol drinking in the relationship between previous suicidal attempts and suicidal ideation. J Welf Aged. 2011. 51:297–320.
11. Kim SD, Kim DH, Kim YW, Kim CN, Kreikebaum H. Employee drinking patterns and occupational accidents: a comparative study among Korea, USA and Germany. Korea Econ Bus Assoc. 1999. 8:23–54.
12. Lee WK, Kim Y. Drinking pattern and nonfatal injuries of adults in Korea. J Korean Soc Traumatol. 2009. 22:233–241.
13. Chung WJ, Chun HJ, Lee SM. Socioeconomic costs of alcohol drinking in Korea. J Prev Med Public Health. 2006. 39:21–29.
14. Lee S, Chung W, Kim IS, Kim HJ, Cho W, Shin E, Ahn SH, Han KH, Myoung JI. Socioeconomic costs of alcohol drinking in Korea. J Korean Acad Fam Med. 2008. 29:201–212.
15. Kim J, Chung W, Lee S, Park C. Estimating the socioeconomic costs of alcohol drinking among adolescents in Korea. J Prev Med Public Health. 2010. 43:341–351.
![crossref](/image/icon/bnr_ref_cross.gif)
![crossref](/image/icon/bnr_ref_cross.gif)
16. Kim KK, Cho NN. Trends of alcohol attributable mortality in Korea: 1995-2000. Korean J Health Policy Adm. 2004. 14:24–43.
![crossref](/image/icon/bnr_ref_cross.gif)
![crossref](/image/icon/bnr_ref_cross.gif)
17. Kim MS, Suh KH. Antisocial personality, problem drinking, and motivation for alcohol use of criminals who committed forced crimes. J Korean Alcohol Sci. 2003. 4:53–59.
18. Koh MS, Chun SS, Park YY, Kim MS, Park JS. A study on the alcohol related crime. J Korean Alcohol Sci. 2002. 3:159–167.
19. Miller WR, Zweben J, Johnson WR. Evidence-based treatment: why, what, where, when, and how? J Subst Abuse Treat. 2005. 29:267–276.
![crossref](/image/icon/bnr_ref_cross.gif)
![crossref](/image/icon/bnr_ref_cross.gif)
20. Emmen MJ, Wollersheim H, Bleijenberg G, Schippers GM. How to optimize interventions for problem drinking among hospital outpatients? Neth J Med. 2005. 63:421–427.
21. Kaner EF, Dickinson HO, Beyer F, Pienaar E, Schlesinger C, Campbell F, Saunders JB, Burnand B, Heather N. The effectiveness of brief alcohol interventions in primary care settings: a systematic review. Drug Alcohol Rev. 2009. 28:301–323.
![crossref](/image/icon/bnr_ref_cross.gif)
![crossref](/image/icon/bnr_ref_cross.gif)
22. Jung JG, Oh SK, Han KH, Jung IW, Kim JS, Kim SS. The effect of brief intervention on heavy drinking patients in primary care. J Korean Acad Fam Med. 2005. 26:96–101.
23. Emmen MJ, Schippers GM, Wollersheim H, Bleijenberg G. Adding psychologist's intervention to physicians' advice to problem drinkers in the outpatient clinic. Alcohol Alcohol. 2005. 40:219–226.
![crossref](/image/icon/bnr_ref_cross.gif)
![crossref](/image/icon/bnr_ref_cross.gif)
24. White A, Kavanagh D, Stallman H, Klein B, Kay-Lambkin F, Proudfoot J, Drennan J, Connor J, Baker A, Hines E, Young R. Online alcohol interventions: a systematic review. J Med Internet Res. 2010. 12:e62.
![crossref](/image/icon/bnr_ref_cross.gif)
![crossref](/image/icon/bnr_ref_cross.gif)
25. Chun YM. Motivational approach motivational interviewing & stages of change model. 2009. Seoul: The Korean Alcohol Research Foundation.
26. Miller WR, Rollnick S. Motivational interviewing: preparing people to change addictive behavior. 1991. New York: Guilford Press.
27. Woo JM, Choi SC. Theory and practice of employee assistance programs (EAP). 2008. Gimhae: Inje University Press.