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Biomedical subjects

R Room

Publications and source records attributed to R Room.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1996

Determinants of suggestions for alcohol treatment.

Entry to treatment is often precipitated by suggestions or pressure from relatives or friends, but we know little of the circumstances in which suggestions to cut down on drinking include advice to seek professional help. In 1993, 1034 Ontario adults were asked in a random digit dialling telephone survey if they had said something to a friend or relative about their drinking, or suggested they cut down. About 35% had said something within the last year, and 15% had taken the further step of suggesting they seek professional help or helping them get assistance. Respondents were asked a series of questions about the circumstances of the most recent time they had said something to the person. Whether respondents who said something recommended seeking professional help is related to these circumstances, and to the respondent's demographics and relationship to the drinker.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1996

On the emerging paradigm of drinking patterns and their social and health consequences.

Recent epidemiological and social studies have increasingly pointed to the importance of drinking patterns in explaining consequences of alcohol consumption. This paper presents recommendations for research in the area based on the presentations and discussions of the first "International Conference on Social and Health Effects of Different Drinking Patterns" held in Toronto in November 1995. In particular, the social dimension in pattern research, and the relationship between patterns of drinking and casualties as well as social harm, are stressed. The paper also argues for better theories, incorporating knowledge from related basic disciplines. In addition, we emphasize the need for improved methodologies and standardized methods for assessing drinking patterns. Finally, implications of research on drinking patterns for policy and programme development are discussed.

Alcohol Drinking↗
PubMed1995

The risk of harm to oneself from drinking, Canada 1989.

In a national sample of 11,634 Canadians aged 15 years and above, risk curves for harm to six life-areas from one's own drinking and for assault by another drinker rose steadily with the respondent's volume of alcohol consumption. While drinking five or more drinks on an occasion at least once a month substantially raised the risk at a given volume of drinking, the risk rose with volume even among those not regularly drinking five or more drinks. These relationships remained in logistic regressions which controlled for gender, age and educational level. Younger respondents, those without higher education and men reported more harm for a given level of their own drinking although differences by gender disappeared above one-third of one drink per day. Three sets of guidelines for low-risk drinking--two from Canada, and one generally used in Britain--were compared in terms of the proportions of respondents reporting harm from their own drinking among those who had kept within the guideline in the previous 7 days' drinking. More restrictiveness in the guidelines was associated with substantial reductions in reported drinking-related harm.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1995

Trends in the treatment of alcohol problems in the US general population, 1979 through 1990.

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to conduct a comprehensive analysis of alcohol-treatment service utilization trends in the general population during the 1980s. METHODS: Three national surveys of the US household population (1979, 1984, and 1990) were used for trend analysis of treatment utilization. Trends in demographic characteristics of persons with lifetime treatment rates and particular types of treatment were examined by means of logistic regression analysis, controlling for alcohol problem severity and other variables. RESULTS: Substantial increases in the numbers reporting treatment were found. In all surveys, Alcoholics Anonymous was the treatment used most frequently and its use increased most, especially for women. Men were more likely than women (odds ratio [OR] = 2.01, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.20, 5.39) and unmarried persons were twice as likely as married persons to have been treated [corrected]. Social consequences carried more predictive power than dependence symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: From a general population perspective, while overall treatment capacity has increased, the structural changes in the public/private balance of services have not positively affected the representation of women or other characteristics of the treatment population.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1993

Alcoholics anonymous, other 12-step movements and psychotherapy in the US population, 1990.

Based on the 1990 US National Alcohol Survey, this note provides the first available comprehensive findings on self-reported utilization of a variety of sources of personal support and counselling for alcohol and other problems. Respondents were queried about lifetime attendance and number of times they went to identified sources of help in the prior year. Twelve-step groups included Alcoholics Anonymous, Al-Anon, Adult Children of Alcoholics, and other non-alcohol-oriented groups like Gamblers Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, and Overeaters Anonymous; additional questions inquired about support or therapy groups and individual counselling for non-alcohol problems. Of the US adult population, 9% have been to an AA meeting at some time, 3.6% in the prior year, only about one-third of these for problems of their own. About half these percentages, mostly women, have attended Al-Anon. Of the same population, 13.3% indicate ever attending a 12-step meeting (including non-alcohol-oriented groups), 5.3% in the last year. During the prior year a further 2.1% used other support/therapy groups and 5.5% sought individual counselling/therapy for personal problems other than alcohol. In contrast to this high reported utilization, only 4.9% (ever) and 2.3% (12-months) reported going to anyone including AA for a problem (of their own) related to drinking.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1992

The impossible dream?--Routes to reducing alcohol problems in a temperance culture.

Two main prescriptions are offered for reducing rates of alcohol problems in English-speaking and Nordic cultures: a "dry" solution of reducing the physical and cultural availability of alcohol, and a "wet" solution of reducing problems of intoxication by better integrating drinking into the culture. Empirical evaluations of change in particular cultures have tended to support the dry, and not the wet, solution. But such studies focus on relatively short-term effects, and there is evidence that long-run effects may be weaker or may even be reversed from shortterm effects. Some particular societies that have been put forward as examples of the long-term success of wet strategies are considered. The most likely success from this perspective is the Netherlands, which is also an exceptional society in terms of the wetness of its drug policies. In the light of these cases, consideration is given to some issues concerning the criteria for evaluating the success of one or the other solution. It is argued that alcohol policy discussions need to recognize that intoxication has a particular social position in our societies, in terms of characteristics of the drinker and of the occasion, in terms of intoxication's cultural significance, and in terms of its entrenchment in social worlds of heavy drinking. Some implications for policy are noted.

Alcoholic Beverages↗
PubMed1992

Self-control concerns and drinking loss of control in general and clinical populations.

In popular conceptions, loss of control over drinking involves a double loss of control, over one's life as well as over one's drinking. A measure of "control worries," concerning the experience of difficulties in controlling one's life, was developed. The relationships between measures of control worries, loss of control over drinking and heavy-drinking behavior were examined in samples both of alcohol treatment clients and of the general population in a California county. Alcohol treatment clients reported greater control worries and loss of control over drinking than members of the general population. Although control worries were only slightly correlated with drinking loss of control, this relationship tended to be conditional in the general population. The findings suggest that concerns about personal control in general may be a useful construct to consider in conjunction with the drinking loss of control concept.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

Salivary antibody testing in a school outbreak of hepatitis A.

During a community-wide outbreak of hepatitis A in Gloucester, UK there was a high attack rate in children attending two city primary schools and a pre-school centre sharing the same site. In September 1990, saliva specimens were collected from 478 (85%) of the 562 children. The prevalence of antibody to hepatitis A virus (anti-HAV), as determined by saliva testing, was 29.6%; highest prevalences were seen in 5-6-year-olds and in children from that area of the city at the centre of the community-wide outbreak. The proportion of immune children with a history of clinical hepatitis varied with age from 1 in 42.7 of under-5-year-olds to 1 in 4.7 of 8-10-year-olds. Six children who received prophylaxis with human normal immune globulin (HNIG) because they were household contacts of cases subsequently became infected. Since there was evidence of transmission outside the school environment it is unlikely that a policy of universal prophylaxis within the schools would have stopped the outbreak. Mass prophylaxis in school outbreaks is only likely to be effective if most transmission is occurring at school and if the target population can be clearly defined. Salivary antibody testing is a simple, practical and acceptable procedure in young children. Salivary antibody surveys in conjunction with vaccination against hepatitis A should provide a cost-effective method for control of future outbreaks.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1992

An outbreak of hepatitis A in Gloucester, UK.

During an outbreak of hepatitis A that occurred in Gloucester, UK between September 1989 and January 1991, 162 clinical cases were identified through notifications and laboratory reports, a monthly attack rate of 1.05 per 10,000 residents. The highest attack rate was seen in 5-14-year-olds. There were significant correlations between hepatitis A attack rates in the electoral wards of Gloucester and with the Jarman UPA 8 scores for the wards and with overcrowding, unemployment, under 5-year-olds and ethnic minority. The use of human normal immune globulin prophylaxis (HNIG) for household contacts was unsuccessful in ending the outbreak, partly because only one third of cases reported a household contact with recent hepatitis A. Our experience does not support the use of HNIG in stopping community-wide outbreaks of hepatitis A. Two public health campaigns were mounted during the outbreak; both were followed by a fall in the number of cases. Greater priority should be given to the implementation and evaluation of public health campaigns in future community-wide outbreaks of hepatitis A.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1990

Alcohol problems and the city.

Alcohol problems have long been especially associated with city life, although this perception is not always supported empirically in comparisons of urban and rural rates. Potential explanations of higher urban rates include: more complete reporting of problems in the city; that problems may occur in the city, but involve non-inhabitants; that migrants to the city may be especially attracted by or vulnerable to heavy drinking; and characteristics of city lifestyles that are conducive to heavy drinking, and to heavy drinking being defined as problematic. On the other hand, there are also potential explanations of higher rural rates, such as the ready availability associated with home production. Collective efforts to reduce rates of alcohol problems have often focused on the city or its neighborhoods; these local communities bear many of the costs of the problems, while alcohol tax revenues tend to go to national governments. Three forms of urban alcohol problems prevention are briefly discussed: local alcohol control through municipal public-houses or sales license controls; community action movements to reduce rates of alcohol-related problems; and AA and other mutual-help movements, which are particularly attuned to counteracting characteristically urban problems.

Alcohol Drinking↗
PubMed1989

The U.S. general population's experiences of responding to alcohol problems.

Respondents in a 1984 national adult sample report on the experiences of treatment for alcohol problems, of talking to someone about an alcohol problem of their own, and of others' suggestion that the respondent cut down. Most who have been treated (3.4% on a lifetime basis, 1.3% within the last year) have also encountered informal pressures. A majority of respondents have pressured others to cut down their drinking; such efforts do not appear to be clustered in a few 'control specialists', and heavier drinkers are about as likely as lighter drinkers to pressure others. Within the family, the flow of pressure is from older to younger generations, and from women to men, but a heavy-drinking woman is as likely to be pressured as a heavy-drinking man. Somewhat more men than women report applying pressure on friends.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

Alcoholism and Alcoholics Anonymous in U.S. films, 1945-1962: the party ends for the "wet generations".

At least 34 Hollywood films were made between The Lost Weekend (1945) and Days of Wine and Roses (1962) with an alcoholic as a major character; six depicted an Alcoholics Anonymous-like self-help organization. Presentations of alcoholism's origin as mysterious competed with psychodynamic interpretations and situational explanations, often in the same film and sometimes concerning the same character. Will-power and mutual help were each frequently shown as paths to recovery, whereas neither professional treatment nor AA's spiritual side were often shown. For the women alcoholics (17 of 39 depicted), drinking went with sexuality, but for men it replaced it. "Creative" occupations were hugely overrepresented among screen alcoholics, in part reflecting the personal struggles with drinking of the movies' creators. These writers, actors and directors were drawn from the "wet generations" of middle-class youth, who had adopted heavy drinking in their college years as a generational revolt against "Victorian morality." Alcoholics Anonymous was founded and peopled by members of these same cohorts as a generational solution to their eventual life-problems. The flurry of alcoholism films represented a parallel and overlapping generational response.

Alcoholics Anonymous↗