Young drinkers believe prominent health warnings on alcohol could boost risk awareness
New research from the Institute for Social Marketing and Health at the University of Stirling, has found that current alcohol labelling is failing to inform Scottish consumers about the potential risks of drinking. The study, commissioned by Alcohol Focus Scotland, suggests that prominent warnings on alcohol packaging could help to capture attention, increase awareness of alcohol-related harms, and may support a reduction in consumption. Study participants also expressed mistrust in alcohol producers to display health warning information. Participants also believed that alcohol companies seek to minimise the amount, noticeability, and effectiveness of health information on alcohol packaging.
Exploring men’s alcohol consumption in the context of becoming a father: a scoping review
The transition to fatherhood may present a ‘teachable moment’ when men evaluate their health, modify existing health behaviours and adopt new ones, according to a new study. The scoping review, led by Glasgow Caledonian University and funded by the Institute of Alcohol Studies (IAS), found very little evidence exploring men’s experiences of drinking in the transition to fatherhood. This insufficient understanding of new fathers’ experiences of alcohol use may result in missed opportunities to address hazardous and harmful drinking among men during this transition period.
This was the first project to be completed through IAS’ small grants scheme. Dr Dimova presented the findings at a joint seminar on 25 February, hosted by Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problems (SHAAP), the Scottish Alcohol Research Network (SARN) and IAS, and attended by more than 100 people.
Study finds that parents are more likely to drink alcohol than non-parents
Balance has expressed concern about the impact of alcohol on families during the COVID-19 pandemic. New figures show that parents are twice as likely as non-parents to be drinking more heavily since the pandemic began.
Among those who drink alcohol, the study found that parents (those with children under 18 living at home) are around twice as likely (38%) as non-parents (18%) to be drinking more often than they were before the pandemic. Parents were also more likely to be drinking more units on a typical drinking day (31%), compared with non-parents (17%). Among those who drink alcohol, it also found nearly half of parents are increasing or higher risk drinkers (48%) compared with 37% of non-parents.
Colin Shevills, director of Balance, said: “Parenting is stressful to begin with but add in home schooling, juggling work with childcare and worries about the pandemic and it is a perfect storm. We are seeing a pattern where many thousands in our region are now drinking in a way which could impact on health, impact on family and put them further down a road towards daily drinking and alcohol addiction.”
Welsh Emergency department data shows reduction in violent injury during lockdown, but no change in violence at home
The Violence Research Group from Cardiff University has found a clear connection between COVID-19 lockdowns and visits to emergency departments in Cardiff for violence-related injuries. Hospitals saw an average weekly number of violent injury admissions drop from 28.4 pre-lockdown to 16.5 after lockdown. Jonathan Shepherd from Cardiff University’s Crime and Security Research Institute noted that this reflects the closure of city pubs and clubs, combined with lockdown restrictions.
Meanwhile, there has been no change in domestic abuse admissions in Cardiff’s emergency department. Professor Shepherd said “The massive decrease outside the home but no increase in the home reflects the nature of the two environments. The night-time economy – pubs and clubs and the streets where they are situated – is an environment which facilitates violence and violent injury. On the other hand, in our study, the home environment is much less conducive to violence and violent injury. People who would have been injured in violence in the night-time economy are not injured in violence when they stay at home.”
New collections of COVID-19 and Addiction bibliographies added to digital archive
The SALIS Collection is a digital archive of alcohol, tobacco and other drug books and documents. It includes key seminal, full-text books, reports, documents, and other literature and is international in its scope, and covers a wide number of disciplines. SALIS (Substance Abuse Librarians and Information Specialists) are responsible for developing the collection in partnership with the Internet Archive.
New collections have been published including COVID-19 and Addiction bibliographies for 01 January 2020 – 31 August 2020, 01 September 2020 – 08 November 2020.
GPs promote alcohol awareness during pandemic
The Tower Hamlets GP Care Group has been promoting alcohol awareness during remote visits to all their practices during COVID-19, and screening patients remotely.
Dr Araba Ashun, one of the locality GP leads, also provided circulars for practice teams, during Alcohol Awareness Week and Dry January.
The local online GP registration form also now includes Audit C questions.
Dr Anna Livingstone, Tower Hamlets Clinical Lead for Problem Substance and Alcohol Use, said: “We run the RCGP alcohol certificate (Spectrum Learning and Development) in Tower Hamlets with local input from services and service users which receives a lot of interest. However it is tough, with high demand on local specialist services.”
Events
Managing drug and alcohol problems in primary care conference 2021
RCGP & SMMGP
25 and 26 March 2021, online
Alcohol Occasionals – Alcohol-related violence and deprivation
SHAAP
30 March 2021
12:30 – 14:00
Alcohol Occasionals – Drinking transitions during lockdown
SHAAP
28 April 2021
12:30 – 14:00
Alcohol Policy Research Network launch event
ACORN
29 April 2021
13:00 – 16:00
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