SummaryThis paper reviews conceptual issues and research findings relevant to the secondary prevention of alcohol‐related problems in the primary care setting. A discussion of public health concepts and recent epidemiological studies is followed by a review of screening procedures developed to identify individuals at risk. Representative programmes designed to reduce alcohol misuse and treat harmful drinking are summarized. The results of several systematic programme evaluations suggest that modest but reliable effects on drinking behaviour and related problems can follow from brief interventions, especially with the less serious type of problem drinker. The basic elements of these interventions include information giving, brief advice, self‐help manuals, self‐help groups and periodic monitoring of progress by the health worker. It is concluded that low intensity, brief interventions have much to recommend as the first approach to the problem drinker in the primary care se