The Impact of a Community-Based Risky Drinking Intervention (Beat da Binge) on Indigenous Young People
BACKGROUND:
Alcohol
misuse imposes substantial harm on Indigenous Australians whose health status
is poorer than non-Indigenous Australians. Although Indigenous youth are over
represented in Indigenous alcohol harms, few interventions addressing
alcohol-related harm among Indigenous youth have been evaluated. Given this
paucity of evidence, a survey was designed to evaluate the effects of a
whole-of-community, anti-binge drinking intervention for young people in an
Indigenous community in far north Queensland, Australia.
METHODS:
A cross
sectional, baseline-post intervention study assessed the impact of a two year
anti-binge drinking intervention targeting young people (18-24 years). A survey
was developed and implemented at baseline and again two-years post-intervention,
administered by young local people employed as research assistants. Survey
respondents were recruited through snowballing techniques. Survey items asked
about respondents' knowledge of binge drinking and standard drinks, involvement
in alcohol-free social activities, frequency of short-term risky drinking
(binge drinking), and mean alcohol expenditure during short-term risky drinking
occasions. The intervention was called Beat da Binge. Two major events and
multiple minor activities each year were implemented, focusing on drinking
education, alcohol-free community-wide social events, and youth-specific
sporting and social activities to facilitate self-empowerment.
RESULTS:
Beat da
Binge was associated with a statistically significant 10 % reduction in the
proportion of survey respondents who reported that they had engaged in an
episode of short-term risky drinking, in the frequency of short-term risky
drinking for all beverage types except wine (ranging from 4 % to 31 %
reductions), in mean expenditure on alcohol during short-term risky drinking
sessions ($6.25) and in the proportion of activities with family/friends that
usually include alcohol (7 %). There were also statistically significant
increases in awareness of binge drinking and standard drinks (28 % and 21 %
respectively). In addition to alcohol-specific outcomes, there was a
statistically significant 8 % increase in the proportions of respondents
engaged in training as their main weekday activity, which was partly off-set by
a 13 % reduction in those whose main weekday activity was family care or
home-related tasks.
CONCLUSIONS:
Reductions
in the proportion of survey respondents who reported binge drinking, along with
increases in awareness and involvement in alcohol-free social activities
suggest the community-based intervention was effective. The potential impact of
sample selection and self-reporting limitations on results need further
investigation. There is an urgent need for Indigenous, community-driven public
health programs that are well evaluated to both improve Indigenous health and
the strength of the current evidence base to inform future community
interventions.
- 1National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, UNSW Australia, Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia. Ansari.Abudeen@racp.edu.au.
- 2Gindaja Treatment Centre, Yarrabah, Qld, Australia. ailsa@gindaja.org.
- 3Gindaja Treatment Centre, Yarrabah, Qld, Australia. michele.singleton@bigpond.com.
- 4National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, UNSW Australia, Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia. a.shakeshaft@unsw.edu.au.
- 5The Cairns Institute, James Cook University, Townsville City, QLD, 4811, Australia. komla.tsey@jcu.edu.au.
- 6The Cairns Institute, James Cook University, Townsville City, QLD, 4811, Australia. janya.mccalman@jcu.edu.au.
- 7School of Human Health and Social Sciences, Central Queensland University, 160 Ann Street Brisbane, QLD, 4000, Brisbane, Australia. c.doran@cqu.edu.au.
- 8The Cairns Institute, James Cook University, Townsville City, QLD, 4811, Australia. susan.jacups2@jcu.edu.au.
- BMC Public Health. 2015 Dec 30;15(1):1319. doi: 10.1186/s12889-015-2675-4
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