Health Professionals Should Screen For Alcohol Use

Calls For Questions On Alcohol Use To Be Asked By Health Professionals

Press Release
13 October 2009

The Alcohol Advisory Council (ALAC) wants health professionals to become more active in screening for alcohol problems.

Commenting on the just released Ministry of Health survey on alcohol use and alcohol-related harm in the New Zealand adult population aged 16–64 years, ALAC Manager Strategic Operations Tuari Potiki said the survey was a useful snapshot of New Zealanders’ alcohol use for 2007/08 and was consistent with previous surveys.

“Of particular interest is the numbers who sought help for their alcohol use and received it and, more importantly, the numbers who had wanted help but had not received it,” he said.

Mr Potiki said the survey confirmed many people with problems were not receiving the help they needed.

“We recognise there are many barriers for people to access help. However, if they are not asked about their drinking and given advice in primary care settings, drinking is likely to escalate along with the associated problems and harms.”

Mr Potiki said ALAC had been promoting early intervention and brief advice in a number of settings to ensure people got the help they need. There was significant evidence of the effectiveness of brief interventions with one study showing that for every eight people who received simple alcohol advice, one would reduce their drinking to within lower-risk levels.

Such advice could be offered through Māori or Pacific health providers, general practitioners, occupational health nurses as well as through confidential help lines such as the Alcohol and Drug Helpline 0800 787 797.

The Ministry of Health survey stated just over one percent of adults aged 16–64 years had received help to reduce their level of alcohol use in the past year, equating to about 35,500 people. Also, in the past year just over one percent of adults had wanted help but not received it, representing about 31,600 people.

One in forty adults reported that they had wanted help to reduce their level of alcohol use at some point in their life, but had not received it. The most common reasons given for not receiving help were fear (31.2 percent), not knowing where to go (28.4 percent) and social pressure (23.2 percent).

About 3.6 percent of adults had ever received help to reduce their level of alcohol use in their lifetime. The places where these people had most commonly received help from were alcohol and drug counsellors (48.1 percent), friends or family members (29.9 percent) and general practitioners (21.1 percent).

People aged 18–24 years had the highest rate of having received help in the past year to reduce their level of alcohol use. This survey also found that 2.4 percent of Māori aged 16–64 years had received help to reduce their level of alcohol use in the past year. However, a similar percentage did not receive the help they wanted. About 4.2 percent of Pacific peoples aged 16–64 years had received help in the past year, while 3.6 percent had wanted help in the past year to reduce their level of alcohol use but had not received it.

ENDS

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