Showing papers in "Drugs-education Prevention and Policy in 2016"
TL;DR: This article conducted a critical review of the alcohol research literature to examine how the concept of drinking culture has been understood and employed, particularly in work that views alcohol through a problem lens, and pointed out that there has been a comparative tradition concerned with categorising drinking cultures into typologies (e.g. "wet" and "dry" cultures).
Abstract: There has been growing academic interest in “drinking cultures” as targets of investigation and intervention, driven often by policy discourse about “changing the drinking culture”. In this article, we conduct a critical review of the alcohol research literature to examine how the concept of drinking culture has been understood and employed, particularly in work that views alcohol through a problem lens. Much of the alcohol research discussion on drinking culture has focussed on national drinking cultures in which the cultural entity of concern is the nation or society as a whole (macro-level). In this respect, there has been a comparative tradition concerned with categorising drinking cultures into typologies (e.g. “wet” and “dry” cultures). Although overtly focused on patterns of drinking and problems at the macro-level, this tradition also points to a multifaceted understanding of drinking cultures. Even though norms about drinking are not uniform within and across countries there has been rela...
141 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the relative normalisation of recreational drug use in the UK has been productive of, and fused with, the relatively normalised and non-commercial social supply of recreational drugs.
Abstract: Aims: Describes how the relative normalisation of recreational drug use in the UK has been productive of, and fused with, the relatively normalised and non-commercial social supply of recreational drugs. Methods: Semi-structured interviews with 60 social suppliers of recreational drugs in two studies (involving a student population n = 30 and general population sample n = 30). Respondents were recruited via purposive snowball sampling and local advertising. Findings: Both samples provided strong evidence of the normalised supply of recreational drugs in micro-sites of friendship and close social networks. Many social suppliers described “drift” into social supply and normalised use was suggested to be productive of supply relationships that both suppliers and consumers regard as something less than “real” dealing in order to reinforce their preconceptions of themselves as relatively non-deviant. Some evidence for a broader acceptance of social supply is also presented. Conclusions: The fairly recent context of relative normalisation of recreational drug use has coalesced with the social supply of recreational drugs in micro-sites of use and exchange whereby a range of “social” supply acts (sometimes even involving large amounts of drugs/money) have become accepted as something closer to gift-giving or friendship exchange dynamics within social networks rather than dealing proper. To some degree, there is increasing sensitivity to this within the criminal justice system.
92 citations
TL;DR: The changing landscape of nicotine and non-nicotine products challenges traditional conceptualisations of “smoking’ and “non-smoking” and problematises the notion of linear processes of normalisation in respect not just of young people’s tobacco and nicotine use, but more generally, of delivery systems and the drugs dispensed within them, suggesting marketplace-differentiated normalisation.
Abstract: Aims: From an academic discourse explaining trends in drug-related attitudes and behaviours, “normalisation” now also encompasses public health policy advocating “denormalisation” of smoking. This study explored young people’s attitudes and behaviours to cigarettes and e-cigarettes to ascertain whether a process of “renormalisation” was underway. Methods: A six-month multi-method study was conducted in NW England. Data collection in April-July 2014 included a convenience sample survey of 233 students; secondary analysis of a 3,500 respondent survey; stakeholder interviews; participant observation sessions; focus groups; and participatory research events with over 100 students. Findings: With the public performance of “vaping” valued as an indicator of experienced use, young people used e-cigarettes primarily for flavour combinations and to perform “tricks”. Smoking cessation and nicotine consumption were less important motivations. When comparing e-cigarettes with eight indicators of normalisation...
63 citations
TL;DR: In the mid-1990s, a team of UK researchers developed a theoretical framework in which they argued the use of some illicit drugs, specifically cannabis, nitrates and amphetamines, and equivoca...
Abstract: In the mid-1990s, a team of UK researchers developed a theoretical framework in which they argued that the use of some illicit drugs – specifically cannabis, nitrates and amphetamines, and equivoca...
49 citations
TL;DR: It is suggested that perceptions of health risk shape users’ experience of normalization (and denormalization) and help to contextualize the larger societal processes where both drugs are in a stage of societal re-evaluation.
Abstract: Aims: This study provides an examination of normalization trends associated with the use of cannabis and tobacco, and whether and to what extent health concerns and legal contexts appear to modify the tolerance displayed to users. Methods: Data for this paper are drawn from a mixed methods interview study involving 202 respondents who reported being regular users of cannabis (alone n = 100 or in conjunction with tobacco n = 67) or tobacco only users (n = 35), in four Canadian cities (Halifax, Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver). Findings: While participants commonly attributed serious health risks to the use of tobacco, cannabis was viewed as relatively low risk. All groups described cannabis laws as too punitive, while most agreed with the regulatory controls for tobacco. Drawing on norms around appropriate context for use, cannabis users illustrate the expansion of normalization, with varying degrees of acceptability in different spaces. In contrast, tobacco users’ heightened awareness of the dange...
48 citations
TL;DR: A better understanding of the cultural transformation of cannabis, and other drugs in common use by youth, requires more exploration of the emerging social context and attitudes of users and non-users of the drug.
Abstract: Aims: To critically investigate the extent of normalisation of the use of cannabis by undergraduate students. To examine the extent of peer accommodation, this paper focuses on attitudes of students who abstain. It sheds light on social meanings of the practice by exploring non-users’ reasons for abstaining in addition to their attitudes, perceptions and experiences of use among their peers. Methods: Respondents were recruited to participate in interviews through an online survey of undergraduate students in social science classes at three Canadian universities. Findings: Peer accommodation of the use of cannabis requires that users exercise due caution and discretion and be respectful of the choices of non-users not to use. Non-users’ attitudes, however, still reflect longstanding cultural assumptions about drug use as a deviant behaviour. Attitudes towards the use of cannabis reflect norms and expectations about gender among other culturally constructed social statuses and roles. Conclusions: Fu...
43 citations
TL;DR: In the absence of structural changes in law enforcement policies and practices in Ukraine, PWIDs will continue to avoid OAT and perpetuate the addiction cycle with high imprisonment rates, although OAT represents an evidence-based option to “break the cycle”.
Abstract: Aims: To understand how perceived law enforcement policies and practices contribute to the low rates of utilisation of opioid agonist therapies (OAT) like methadone and buprenorphine among people who inject drugs (PWIDs) in Ukraine. Methods: Qualitative data from 25 focus groups (FGs) with 199 opioid-dependent PWIDs in Ukraine examined domains related to lived or learned experiences with OAT, police, arrest, incarceration and criminal activity and were analysed using grounded theory principles. Findings: Most participants were male (66%), in their late 30s, and previously incarcerated (85%), mainly for drug-related activities. When imprisoned, PWIDs perceived themselves as being “addiction-free”. After prison-release, the confluence of police surveillance and societal stress contributed to participants’ drug use relapse, perpetuating a cycle of searching for money and drugs, followed by re-arrest and re-incarceration. Fear of police and arrest both facilitated OAT entry and simultaneously contribu...
42 citations
TL;DR: The purpose of this Special Issue is to critically examine and advance research relating to the growth in use, control and treatment of drugs within the prison environment as well as research on relevant governmental policies and practices.
Abstract: Drugs are an increasingly salient concern in many prisons around the world. Specific prison drug policies are made, drugs are illegally used and legally prescribed, drug use and drug sale is sanctioned, drug profits are generated, and drug use is an important public health and treatment priority in most prisons. A growing number of prisoners are using drugs and a large proportion of people who use drugs have been in prison. As a consequence of such developments, everyday life in many prisons is dictated by drug-related issues. The purpose of this Special Issue is to critically examine and advance research relating to the growth in use, control and treatment of drugs within the prison environ- ment as well as research on relevant governmental policies and practices. The articles highlight a diverse range of issues including the dynamic nature of the drugs problem in prison in relation to the substances being used, how they are administered, the meanings and motives associated with drug use and dealing and the way in which the drug market operates, but also the ways in which supply reduction, demand reduction and harm reduction responses have developed within different prison settings. The papers draw on a range of different quantitative and qualitative research designs and methodologies, highlighting the voices of the prisoners themselves as well as the practitioners and policy- makers who are tasked with dealing with the problem of drugs in prisons.
37 citations
TL;DR: O'Gorman et al. as mentioned in this paper examined differentiated normalisation through the lens of young drug users from a marginalised neighbourhood where drugs are readily available, prevalence rates are high, and a flourishing drugs market operates.
Abstract: Aims: This paper examines differentiated normalisation through the lens of young drug users from a marginalised neighbourhood where drugs are readily available, prevalence rates are high, and a flourishing drugs market operates. Methods: The paper draws from the ethnographic fieldwork component of a research study aimed at exploring patterns of drug use, associated drug-related harms and the operation of the local drugs economy in the risk environment of a Dublin neighbourhood (O’Gorman et al., 2013). The study uses a critical interpretivist methodology to explore the role and meaning of drug use from the users’ perspective. Findings: The narratives of these marginalised young people illustrate how drug use and drug choices are shaped by different intentions, avowed identities and diverse structural, temporal and socio-spatial settings. Their routines and drug repertoires echo the (mainly) reasoned consumption choices, the cost–benefit analyses and the emphasis on pleasure and fun ascribed to recr...
37 citations
TL;DR: It is argued that evidence is contradictory and it is challenging to reach a conclusion about the extent of normalisation, and the situation fits with the idea of “differentiated normalisation”.
Abstract: In Britain, during the 1990s, there was a sharp increase in recreational drug use, and by the end of the decade, it had reached unprecedented levels. The normalisation thesis offered an explanation for increasing drug trends. It argued that drug use was undergoing a process of normalisation whereby it was becoming more acceptable within mainstream society. Since the millennium, British government statistics have recorded a downward trend in overall drug use, perhaps an early sign that recreational drug use is becoming denormalised in Britain. This paper reconsiders the normalisation thesis drawing on British trend data collected since the millennium. It argues that evidence is contradictory and it is challenging to reach a conclusion about the extent of normalisation. At best, the situation fits with the idea of “differentiated normalisation”. The analysis presented raises questions about the utility of the concept in the twenty-first century and the paper concludes with a discussion of how it mig...
36 citations
TL;DR: Why effective and efficient prevention models applied in the community (like PNSP) are very rarely implemented in prison settings is studied to study.
Abstract: Aims: In most countries, the spread of HIV and hepatitis C in prisons is clearly driven by injecting drug use with many infected prisoners who are unaware of their infection status. Despite many studies confirming the facts about risk behaviour and the prison setting as a risk environment for maintaining or taking up of risk behaviour, little progress has been made around effective and efficient infectious prophylaxis by means of prison-based needle and syringe programs and associated education. The aim of this contribution is to study why effective and efficient prevention models applied in the community (like PNSP) are very rarely implemented in prison settings. Findings: Only approximately 60 out of more than 10,000 prisons worldwide provide needle exchange in prisons. A United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) handbook on the implementation of prison-based needle exchange has been elaborated to better inform and guide officials in the Ministries of Justice, Health and people in charge ...
TL;DR: In this paper, the research on motivations and meanings associated with drug use in prisons has received little scholarly attention, and there are few studies analysing drug usage in prisons from the perspective of motivation and meaning.
Abstract: Aims: The research on motivations and meanings associated with drug use in prisons has received little scholarly attention. Particularly, there are few studies analysing drug use in prisons from th...
TL;DR: A through-care project to support prisoners released from custody to community, "Gateways" as mentioned in this paper, is taking place across North-West England, incorporating the Breaking Free Online (BFO) substance misuse treatment programme.
Abstract: Reshaping substance misuse treatment in prisons is central to the UK Government’s drive to address substance dependence in the prison population and reduce substance-related offending and recidivism. Therefore, a through-care project to support prisoners released from custody to community, “Gateways”, is taking place across North-West England. Amongst support with housing, education, training and employment, Gateways incorporates the Breaking Free Online (BFO) substance misuse treatment programme. Aims: To explore BFO’s potential to provide support to prisoners’ substance misuse recovery and continuity of care post-release, and examine quantitative outcomes provided by prisoners who have used the programme. Methods: Qualitative interviews with prisoners and analyses of quantitative psychometric data collected pre- and post-intervention. Findings: Themes emerging from qualitative data around prisoners’ experiences of engaging with BFO illustrate its potential for use in prison settings and also upo...
TL;DR: Replicating the methods in other countries, and with additional stakeholder groups, will provide greater clarity on the term “recovery”, its relevance and value, and how it can best be measured.
Abstract: Aim: To identify indicators that diverse stakeholders believe are important when measuring recovery from addiction. Methods: Our previous work with service users had generated 28 indicators of recovery. Using Delphi group methodology (three rounds), we assessed the extent to which stakeholders working in the addictions field agreed that the 28 indicators were important on a scale of 1–10. Participants included 146 individuals with diverse job roles in 124 organisations across the British Isles. Findings: Round 1 scores were high. There was evidence of greater scoring consensus in Round 2, but this trend was less certain in Round 3. Participants scored 27/28 indicators ≥7/10 in Round 3, so confirming their importance. The only Round 3 indicator with a mean score <7 was “experiencing cravings”. There were statistical differences between the Round 3 indicator scores of some sub-groups of participants, but absolute differences were small (never more than 1 point for any indicator). Conclusions: We hav...
TL;DR: The topic of drug mules frequently attracts curiosity and revulsion in popular culture and mainstream media, particularly with regards to the archetypal female drug mule who is exploited or coerced.
Abstract: The topic of drug mules frequently attracts curiosity and revulsion in popular culture and mainstream media; particularly with regards to the archetypal female drug mule who is exploited or coerced...
TL;DR: Australian evidence of the successful operational implementation of peer-to-peer THN delivery within a range of drug primary health services and needle syringe programs is provided.
Abstract: Aims: To investigate the perspectives and experiences of service providers regarding provision of take-home naloxone to people who use opioids in Victoria, Australia. Methods: Content analysis of qualitative semi-structured interviews with 15 service providers who are either involved with take-home naloxone programs or whose work brings them in contact with people who use opioids. Findings: Statements about take-home naloxone were universally positive. Both direct and indirect benefits of take-home naloxone were described. Alongside potential reductions in opioid overdose-related harms, service providers highlighted the empowering effects of providing people who use opioids with take-home naloxone. No significant risks were described. Service providers supported the expansion of naloxone availability, but also identified several intertwined barriers to doing so. Key among these were costs, current regulations and scheduling, availability of prescribers and stigma related to illicit and injecting d...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors identify the cultural variables used in the adaptation of substance abuse prevention programs and evaluate whether the inclusion of such variables enhance program outcomes, based on a review of 58 articles describing study design, results and cultural variables involved.
Abstract: Adolescent substance abuse is a global problem which educators have sought to address through school-based preventive education. Prior research suggests that cultural sensitivity may mediate program success; however the ideal program composition remains unclear. Thus, the purpose of this review is to identify the cultural variables used in the adaptation of substance abuse prevention programs and to evaluate whether the inclusion of such variables enhance program outcomes. We reviewed 58 articles describing study design, results and the cultural variables involved. Cultural variables were categorized as surface-level variables (e.g. language, character names) and deep-level variables (e.g. normative beliefs, motivational factors). Empirical studies implied that variations in language, communication preferences, level of individualism, family orientation, religiosity, norms regarding substance use, gender, ethnic identity and environmental accessibility were possibly related to overall program succ...
TL;DR: Examining the challenges of implementing marijuana policy in Massachusetts revealed gaps in policy development and implementation that are organised by three specific core implementation processes and the themes of transparency, communication and education.
Abstract: Aims: There is a need for greater understanding of the recursive processes involved in drug policy development and its impact on stakeholders. The aim of this study was to examine the challenges of implementing marijuana policy in Massachusetts, where recent policy shifts have occurred. Methods: Qualitative data were generated from ethnographic field notes, media reports, public records and in-depth interviews with 25 stakeholders, including six medical marijuana dispensary entrepreneurs, eight health care professionals and 11 medical marijuana patients. Data were triangulated using a grounded theory approach. Findings: Stakeholders expressed confusion and misunderstanding, and demonstrated that they held conflicting interpretations of the policy and regulations. Analyses revealed gaps in policy development and implementation that are organised by three specific core implementation processes and the themes of transparency, communication and education. Conclusions: Findings show a need for more tra...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explore the nature, organisation and maintenance of drug markets within male prisons in England from the perspective of drug users, considering the role of policy and practice in shaping the markets.
Abstract: Aims: To explore the nature, organisation and maintenance of drug markets within male prisons in England from the perspective of drug users, considering the role of policy and practice in shaping the markets. Methods: Thirty in-depth qualitative interviews with former male prisoners were analysed using a Framework approach. Findings: Prison drug markets traditionally operated through “Established Enterprises,” sophisticated and business like ventures run by community drug dealers. Prisoners maintained the market by selling or delivering drugs or collecting payments and enforcing violence towards debtors. They were reimbursed for their “work” with money or drugs. Market competition was increasingly created by the concurrent existence of less formalised, more spontaneous markets through “Separate Suppliers,” where individual prisoners opportunistically sold illicit drugs, directly benefitting from the profit. Irrespective of provider, illicit drugs were commonly available within male prisons, althou...
TL;DR: That digital marketing was more successful than traditional in reaching young adults, and had a stronger association with increased frequency of HED, highlights the dynamic nature of marketing communications and the need for further research to fully understand young people’s experience with digital marketing.
Abstract: Aim: To explore the association between awareness of traditional and digital marketing, participation with digital marketing and young adults’ frequency of high episodic drinking (HED). Methods: An online cross-sectional survey of 18–25 year olds (n = 405) measured awareness of nine traditional marketing channels, and awareness of, and participation with, 11 digital marketing channels. HED was measured using the final item from the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test – Consumption (AUDIT-C). Findings: Respondents, on average, were aware of alcohol being marketed through 4.30 traditional and 6.23 digital marketing channels, and had participated with marketing through 2.34 digital channels. Respondents who reported HED on at least a weekly basis reported the most awareness of, and participation with, alcohol marketing. Those who reported never engaging in HED, or doing so less than monthly, reported the lowest. Significant associations were found between awareness of, and participation with, t...
TL;DR: Access to and coverage of OST in prisons is higher in countries with a long history of O ST provision, while in countries that introduced OST more recently the scale of Ost is usually lower.
Abstract: Aims: The aim of the study was to survey the availability, coverage and quality of harm reduction and drug treatment services delivered to drug users in prisons across Europe. Methods: A survey was conducted between 2012 and 2013 among the 29 European countries. An electronic semistructured questionnaire was sent to the national institutions responsible for prison services, and 27 countries responded. In addition, good practice interventions for drug offenders have been collated by 15 national experts covering 15 European countries. The interventions were described and assessed as to their quality through using European monitoring centre for drugs and drug addiction (EMCDDA) standard tools for reporting and quality assessment. Findings: Drug treatment including detoxification and opioid substitution treatment (OST) is available in prisons of most European countries. However, OST is unavailable in five countries. Almost all countries provide prison-based harm reduction measures to prevent and treat...
TL;DR: The alcohol socialisation process and the emphasis on wine as a cultural product seem to be the most relevant protective factors, contributing to the lower alcohol consumption and counteracting the widespread risk of alcohol consumption patterns.
Abstract: Introduction: The paper complements an epidemiological analysis of secondary data that compared levels of consumption, alcohol-related mortality and morbidity in territories in Piedmont (N-W Italy), characterized by a different involvement with wine culture, and which showed lower alcohol-related risks in areas of production. Aims: The main aim is to shed light on these epidemiological results through qualitative methods, focusing on meanings attributed to drinking and on mechanisms of regulation that could explain why in wine-producing areas alcohol-related risks appear to be lower. Methods: Eighty-one in-depth individual interviews have been conducted. The sample consisted of males and females, from three cohorts (aged 18–25; 45–52; 70–77 years) and covering two areas (with higher versus lower vineyard acreage). Results: In areas characterized by wine production the traditional alcohol socialization process within the family is more persistent. In these areas, the traditional drinking culture ha...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a case study of drinking cultures in a football club and demonstrate that the changes in the drinking culture of the clubrooms have occurred, and that the Good Sports Program played a role in this change.
Abstract: Despite the predominantly masculine nature of drinking cultures within Australian community sporting clubs, masculinities have received little attention in the associated research and policy arenas. Focusing on the Good Sports Program, which is designed to change the drinking culture of sporting clubs, this article presents a case study of drinking cultures in a football club. My analysis of interview and field observation material traces interrelations between Program interventions, demographic and social changes, gender hierarchies, drinking settings and norms governing alcohol consumption within the club. I demonstrate that the changes in the drinking culture of the clubrooms have occurred, and that the Good Sports Program played a role in this change. However, “bad behaviour”, “drink” and “trouble” remain features of other club settings. I conclude that opportunities exist for further engagements with masculinities, and the socio-material networks that hold them in place, and that these engage...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explored the link between income inequality and adolescent cannabis use at the national level, in the context of other relevant social conditions, in developed countries and found that the combination of high inequality and high urbanization forms part of configurations that are consistent with being usually sufficient to cause high-adolescent cannabis use, alongside high GDP per head in the E...
Abstract: Aim: This article explores the link between income inequality and adolescent cannabis use at the national level, in the context of other relevant social conditions, in developed countries. Methods and data: Fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis is applied to two data sets that contain information on the national prevalence of past year cannabis use among 15 and 16 year olds, taken from the ESPAD and HBSC surveys, with supplementary data from the MtF and ASSAD surveys for the USA and Australia (n = 97 for the ESPAD and n = 72 for the HBSC data set). The data sets also include data on national rates of income inequality (Gini coefficient), wealth (GDP per head), welfare support (average benefit replacement rates), urbanization and labour market conditions (youth unemployment). Findings: The combination of high inequality and high urbanization forms part of configurations that are consistent with being usually sufficient to cause high-adolescent cannabis use, alongside high GDP per head in the E...
TL;DR: Values associated with “ageing out” of illicit drug use are more nuanced and contested than have been depicted within typical accounts of “normalised” drug use and are complicated by uncertain and protracted transitions into adulthood in contemporary society.
Abstract: Aims: Positioned by work of normalisation researchers, this article examines how “recreational” styles of drug use were negotiated by young adults in relation to emerging “adult” identities. Methods: Ethnographic fieldwork was conducted in Perth, Western Australia. This involved 18 months of field observations within a network of approximately 60 non-service-engaged 18–31 year olds among whom amphetamine-type stimulant use was a common activity and 25 in-depth interviews with a sub-sample (average age, 25 years) who used illicit drugs at least monthly. Findings: While most participants began to “age out” of drug use by their mid-twenties, the process was uneven and individualised. Some did not perceive a need to “quit” using drugs at all. While health and wellbeing and work-related responsibilities informed decisions by many to use less frequently of “quit”, negotiation of non-stigmatised and “normal” identities – especially among friends and partners – appeared to most strongly inform decision-ma...
TL;DR: The development and evaluation of opportunistic alcohol brief interventions (ABIs) began in Scotland in the 1980s in general hospital wards (Chick, Lloyd, & Crombie, 1985) and primary health care (... as discussed by the authors ).
Abstract: The development and evaluation of opportunistic alcohol brief interventions (ABIs) began in Scotland in the 1980s in general hospital wards (Chick, Lloyd, & Crombie, 1985) and primary health care (...
TL;DR: In alcohol abuse prevention, more attention should be paid to the norms that guide social and cultural possibilities of situational abstinence and the possibility to reduce drinking within drinking situations among those who drink.
Abstract: Aims: We review literature and use existing quantitative and qualitative data to examine direct and indirect pressures to drink more, particularly among heavy drinking adults. Methods: Quantitative analysis uses a Finnish general population survey (n = 2725), which included questions on direct pressure to drink and on wishes for better non-alcoholic alternatives. Experiences and cultural logics of social pressure are studied using thematic interviews of young adult Finns (n = 52) on factors encouraging their drinking. Findings: Nearly one-half of the population reported having been pressured to drink during the past year. Pressures to drink more were reported the most among heavy and problem drinkers, and among respondents in their 20s. The qualitative data showed that indirect pressures to drink played a more significant role for the respondents. Ambivalence was created by two forces: collective drinking stands for sociability in the Finnish drinking culture so that there is a strong social norm ...
TL;DR: A review of the assembled data points in the direction of declining or stagnating consumption and increasing restrictiveness in attitudes, policies and regulations, thus suggesting the start of a shift in drinking practises and perceptions in Denmark.
Abstract: Denmark, along with other industrialised nations, has experienced recent declines in alcohol consumption and other changes to its drinking culture. The point of departure for this study stems from growing evidence of changes in the Danish drinking culture. We have thus proposed a model to describe a society’s drinking culture and have then applied it to the Danish case. We examine trends for several components of the model and focus roughly on a 10-year period from 2003 to 2013. The components include longitudinal survey data on consumption and alcohol‐related harm, registry data on morbidity and mortality, alcohol taxes and prices, physical availability, consumer purchasing power, demographic and structural changes, drinking norms and attitudes, alcohol advertising, as well as health education and promotion efforts. Although unable to conduct formal tests of drinking culture change, a review of our assembled data points in the direction of declining or stagnating consumption and increasing restri...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explored the marketing strategy of using female students to promote beer in bars, nightclubs and hotels and how it facilitates alcohol use among students, and found that female students identified as "beautiful" are strategically employed to promote the beer brands.
Abstract: Background: University students engage in heavy alcohol consumption and one factor that facilitates their alcohol use is alcohol marketing. Diverse sophisticated sales promotion strategies are used by multinational alcohol industries in Nigeria, and no policies to regulate alcohol promotion exist. This study explores the marketing strategy of using female students to promote beer in bars, nightclubs and hotels and how it facilitates alcohol use amongst students. Methods: Thirty-one in-depth interviews were conducted with university students (aged 19–23 years). The data were analysed to generate themes with the aid of NVivo 10 software (QSR International Pty Limited, Doncaster, Victoria, Australia). Results: The results show that female students identified as “beautiful” are strategically employed to promote beer brands in bars, nightclubs and other drinking sites. Beer promotion involves socialising in bars and persuading customers to buy more alcohol. Women agree to promote beer due to the commis...
TL;DR: Examination of the case of housing provided by social landlords and the appropriateness and feasibility of delivering IBA in a range of social housing settings by the housing workforce suggests that while it is feasible to deliver I BA in housing settings, there are similar challenges and barriers to those already identified in relation to primary care.
Abstract: Within the UK, there is a drive to encourage the delivery of alcohol screening (or identification) and brief advice (IBA) in a range of contexts beyond primary care and hospitals where the evidence is strongest. However, the evidence base for effectiveness in non-health contexts is not currently established. This paper considers the case of housing provided by social landlords, drawing on two research studies which were conducted concurrently. One study examined the feasibility of delivering alcohol IBA in housing settings and the other the role of training in delivering IBA in non-health contexts including housing. This paper draws mainly on the qualitative data collected for both studies to examine the appropriateness and feasibility of delivering IBA in a range of social housing settings by the housing workforce. Findings suggest that while it is feasible to deliver IBA in housing settings, there are similar challenges and barriers to those already identified in relation to primary care. These include issues around role inadequacy, role legitimacy and the lack of support to work with people with alcohol problems. Results indicate that the potential may lie in focusing training efforts on specific roles to deliver IBA rather than it being expected of all staff.