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McCarthy S, Pitt H, Benjamin K, Stafford J, Keric D, Arnot G, Thomas S. The role of alcohol consumption in the lives of older Australian women: qualitative insights and an agenda for further research, policy and practice. BMC Public Health 2024; 24:2715. [PMID: 39369192 PMCID: PMC11453004 DOI: 10.1186/s12889-024-20083-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/26/2024] [Accepted: 09/13/2024] [Indexed: 10/07/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Alcohol consumption presents a threat to the health and wellbeing of women. The alcohol industry often pushes back at global efforts to prioritise the prevention of alcohol harms to women. Qualitative researchers have investigated how younger and midlife women conceptualise their alcohol consumption, but there is very limited research relating to older women (those 60 years and over). METHODS Using data collected from an online qualitative survey, this paper explored the factors that influence how older Australian women drinkers (n = 144. 60-88 years) conceptualised the role of alcohol in their lives. The study used a 'Big Q' reflexive approach to thematic analysis, drawing upon sociological theories of risk and symbolic interactionism to construct four themes from the data. RESULTS First, alcohol consumption was viewed by participants as an accepted and normalised social activity, that was part of Australian culture. Second, alcohol played a role for some participants as a way to cope with life changes (such as retirement), as well as managing stressful or challenging life circumstances (such as loneliness). Third, alcohol was part of the routines and rituals of everyday life for some women. For example, women discussed the consumption of wine with their evening meal as an important part of the structure of their day. Fourth, participants had clear personal expectancies about what it meant to be a 'responsible drinker'. They had clear narratives about personal control and moral obligation, which in some cases created a reduced perception of their own risk of alcohol-caused harm. CONCLUSIONS This research provides a starting point for future public health research examining the factors that may shape older women's alcohol consumption beliefs and practices. Public health activities should consider the unique needs and potential vulnerabilities of older women drinkers, and how these may be potentially exploited by the alcohol industry.
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Affiliation(s)
- Simone McCarthy
- Faculty of Health, Institute for Health Transformation, Deakin University, Geelong, Australia.
| | - Hannah Pitt
- Faculty of Health, Institute for Health Transformation, Deakin University, Geelong, Australia
| | - Kelli Benjamin
- Faculty of Health, Institute for Health Transformation, Deakin University, Geelong, Australia
| | | | - Danica Keric
- Cancer Council Western Australia, Perth, Australia
| | - Grace Arnot
- Faculty of Health, Institute for Health Transformation, Deakin University, Geelong, Australia
| | - Samantha Thomas
- Faculty of Health, Institute for Health Transformation, Deakin University, Geelong, Australia
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Foley K, Ward PR, Lunnay B. Gendered pleasures, risks and policies: Using a logic of candidacy to explore paradoxical roles of alcohol as a good/poor health behaviour for Australian women early during the pandemic. THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF DRUG POLICY 2024; 130:104510. [PMID: 39106586 DOI: 10.1016/j.drugpo.2024.104510] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/01/2024] [Revised: 06/24/2024] [Accepted: 06/25/2024] [Indexed: 08/09/2024]
Abstract
Drinking alcohol facilitates pleasure for women while also elevating disease risk. Symbolic expectations of what alcohol 'does in' life per lay insight (relax, identity-work, connect) sit in tension with scientific realities about what alcohol 'does to' women's bodies (elevate chronic disease risks such as breast cancer). Policy must work amidst - and despite - these paradoxes to reduce harm(s) to women by attending to the gendered and emergent configurations of both realities. This paper applies a logic of candidacy to explore women's alcohol consumption and pleasure through candidacies of wellness in addition to risk through candidacies of disease (e.g. breast cancer). Using qualitative data collected via 56 interviews with Australian women (n = 48) during early pandemic countermeasures, we explore how risk perceptions attached to alcohol (like breast cancer) co-exist with use-values of alcohol in daily life and elucidate alcohol's paradoxical role in women's heuristics of good/poor health behaviours. Women were aged 25-64 years, experienced varying life circumstances (per a multidimensional measure of social class including economic, social and cultural capital) and living conditions (i.e. partnered/single, un/employed, children/no children). We collated coding structures from data within both projects; used deductive inferences to understand alcohol's paradoxical role in candidacies of wellness and disease; abductively explored women's prioritisation of co-existing candidacies during the pandemic; and retroductively theorised prioritisations per evolving pandemic-inflected constructions of alcohol-related gendered risk/s and pleasure/s. Our analysis illuminates the ways alcohol was configured as a pleasure and form of wellness in relation to stress, productivity and respectability. It also demonstrates how gender was relationally enacted amidst the priorities, discourses and materialities enfolding women's lives during the pandemic. We consider the impact of policy regulation of aggressive alcohol marketing and banal availability of alcohol in pandemic environments and outline gender-responsive, multi-level policy options to reduce alcohol harms to women.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kristen Foley
- Research Centre for Public Health, Equity and Human Flourishing, Torrens University Australia, 88 Wakefield Street Adelaide, 5000, South Australia, Australia.
| | - Paul R Ward
- Research Centre for Public Health, Equity and Human Flourishing, Torrens University Australia, 88 Wakefield Street Adelaide, 5000, South Australia, Australia
| | - Belinda Lunnay
- Research Centre for Public Health, Equity and Human Flourishing, Torrens University Australia, 88 Wakefield Street Adelaide, 5000, South Australia, Australia
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Miller M, Kuntsche S, Kuntsche E, Cook M, Wright CJC. Strategies to support midlife women to reduce their alcohol consumption: an Australian study using human-centred design. Health Promot Int 2023; 38:daad175. [PMID: 38128081 PMCID: PMC10735253 DOI: 10.1093/heapro/daad175] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/23/2023] Open
Abstract
Alcohol consumption is causally associated with long-term health-related consequences, such as cancer and cardiovascular disease, and short-term harms, such as accidents and injuries. Alcohol consumption has increased among midlife women (aged 40-65) over the last two decades in high-income countries. This study aimed to centre women's voices by using co-design methodologies to investigate what women identify as strategies that could assist them and other women their age to reduce their alcohol consumption. Human-centred design workshops were undertaken with 39 women, and conventional qualitative content analysis was used to analyse information from written workshop materials to develop categories in the data and count their occurrence. Six categories, or strategies, emerged, listed here from most to least represented: 'Participate in alternative activities to drinking alcohol', 'Track alcohol consumption and set goals', 'Seek support from family and friends', 'Drink alcohol-free beverages', 'Reduce supply of alcohol in the home' and 'Seek professional support'. Our findings identify strategies that are realistic and feasible to midlife women; our sample, however, likely reflects a more affluent subsection of this group, and as such, any focus on individual-level strategies must be complemented by policies that increase equitable access to healthcare and act on the social and commercial determinants of health. An intersectional approach to alcohol and other drug research is required to examine how the interplay of gender and other markers of social identities shape alcohol consumption.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mia Miller
- Menzies School of Health Research, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Australia
| | - Sandra Kuntsche
- Centre for Alcohol Policy Research, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia
| | - Emmanuel Kuntsche
- Centre for Alcohol Policy Research, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia
| | - Megan Cook
- Centre for Alcohol Policy Research, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia
- Institute for Social Marketing, University of Stirling, Stirling, Scotland
| | - Cassandra J C Wright
- Menzies School of Health Research, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Australia
- Institute for Social Marketing, University of Stirling, Stirling, Scotland
- Burnet Institute, Melbourne, Australia
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Pitt H, McCarthy S, Keric D, Arnot G, Marko S, Martino F, Stafford J, Thomas S. The symbolic consumption processes associated with 'low-calorie' and 'low-sugar' alcohol products and Australian women. Health Promot Int 2023; 38:daad184. [PMID: 38158741 PMCID: PMC10757065 DOI: 10.1093/heapro/daad184] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/03/2024] Open
Abstract
The influence of commercial actors, practices and processes on the health and wellbeing of women is still not well understood. The alcohol industry has developed a range of products to appeal to new 'health conscious' markets, such as 'low-calorie' and 'low-sugar' products. While these products may have specific appeal for women, there has been little in-depth research that has sought to understand how women conceptualize these products and the range of symbolic meanings that women associate with these products. An online qualitatively led survey was conducted with n = 497 Australian women who had consumed alcohol in the last year. Questions related to the reasons for and influences on alcohol use, the purchasing of 'low-calorie' or 'low-sugar' products and the influence that these products might have on women's alcohol use. Data were interpreted using reflexive thematic analysis. Women consumed alcohol to relax, cope with everyday stressors and because of the alignment with social practices and social connection. Women perceived that these products provided a healthier alternative to traditional alcohol products and that they aligned with women's values relating to weight and the thin ideal. Some women were concerned that these products could increase alcohol consumption by reducing the perceptions of risk associated with alcohol. Policy consideration is needed to address how product claims and attributes may influence population groups' interpretations of the risks and benefits of these alcohol products, including the illusion that these products have protective potential and are better for overall health and wellbeing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hannah Pitt
- Faculty of Health, Institute for Health Transformation, Deakin University, 1 Gheringhap Street, Geelong, Victoria, 3220, Australia
| | - Simone McCarthy
- Faculty of Health, Institute for Health Transformation, Deakin University, 1 Gheringhap Street, Geelong, Victoria, 3220, Australia
| | - Danica Keric
- Cancer Council Western Australia, Level 1/420 Bagot Road, Subiaco, Western Australia, 6008, Australia
| | - Grace Arnot
- Faculty of Health, Institute for Health Transformation, Deakin University, 1 Gheringhap Street, Geelong, Victoria, 3220, Australia
| | - Sarah Marko
- Faculty of Health, Institute for Health Transformation, Deakin University, 1 Gheringhap Street, Geelong, Victoria, 3220, Australia
| | - Florentine Martino
- Faculty of Health, GLOBE, Institute for Health Transformation, Deakin University, 1 Gheringhap Street, Geelong, Victoria, 3220, Australia
| | - Julia Stafford
- Cancer Council Western Australia, Level 1/420 Bagot Road, Subiaco, Western Australia, 6008, Australia
| | - Samantha Thomas
- Faculty of Health, Institute for Health Transformation, Deakin University, 1 Gheringhap Street, Geelong, Victoria, 3220, Australia
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Foley K, Lunnay B, Kevin C, Ward PR. Developing a Women's Thought Collective methodology for health research: The roles and responsibilities of researchers in the reflexive co-production of knowledge. Health Expect 2023; 26:1954-1964. [PMID: 37522791 PMCID: PMC10485336 DOI: 10.1111/hex.13804] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/12/2023] [Revised: 06/09/2023] [Accepted: 06/10/2023] [Indexed: 08/01/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Co-produced research holds enormous value within the health sciences. Yet, there can be a heavy focus on what research participants think, do and know; while the researcher's responsibility to explore and re/work their own knowledge or praxis tends to escape from view. This is reflected in the limited use of co-production to explore broad structural distributions of health and risk(s). We argue this missed opportunity has the potential to unfold as what Berlant calls a 'cruel optimism', where something desirable becomes an obstacle to flourishing and/or produces harm. We explore challenges to involving lay populations meaningfully in health research amidst a neoliberal cultural landscape that tends to responsibilise people with problems they cannot solve. METHODS AND FINDINGS Drawing together principles from hermeneutic and feminist philosophy, we develop a novel methodology for co-producing research about determinants of health and health risk (using a case study of alcohol consumption as an example) that centres on what researchers do, know and think during research: Women's Thought Collectives. DISCUSSION Keeping the constructed nature of social systems-because they shape ideas of value, expertise and knowledge-in view during co-produced research illuminates the potential for cruel optimisms within it. Such reflexive awareness carves out starting points for researchers to engage with how social hierarchies might (tacitly) operate during the co-production of knowledge. Our work has broad utility for diverse population groups and provides important considerations around the roles and responsibilities for reflexive co-production of knowledge at all levels of health systems. PATIENT OR PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION The development of these ideas was sparked by working with lay participants during the Women's Thought Collectives for Kristen Foley's doctoral research 2021-2023, but undertaken without their direct involvement-in accordance with the responsibilities of researchers in the reflexive co-production of knowledge. Forthcoming publications will address the outcomes and processes of this work.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kristen Foley
- Research Centre for Public Health, Equity and Human FlourishingTorrens University AustraliaAdelaideAustralia
| | - Belinda Lunnay
- Research Centre for Public Health, Equity and Human FlourishingTorrens University AustraliaAdelaideAustralia
| | - Catherine Kevin
- College of Humanities and Social ScienceFlinders UniversityAdelaideAustralia
| | - Paul R. Ward
- Research Centre for Public Health, Equity and Human FlourishingTorrens University AustraliaAdelaideAustralia
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Lunnay B, Seymour J, Foley K, Musolino C, Ward PR. Through the wine glass: How biographical midlife transitions and women's affective interpretations interact with alcohol consumption. THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF DRUG POLICY 2023; 117:104046. [PMID: 37207408 DOI: 10.1016/j.drugpo.2023.104046] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/11/2022] [Revised: 03/30/2023] [Accepted: 05/01/2023] [Indexed: 05/21/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Women during midlife are consuming larger quantities of alcohol than any other age group of women and any other generation of midlife women previously. This is concerning given alcohol related-health risks coalesce with age-related health risks for women, in particular, breast cancer. METHODS In-depth interviews with 50 Australian midlife women (aged 45-64) from different social classes explored women's personal accounts of midlife transitions and their descriptions of the role of alcohol in navigating these life experiences; both daily occurrences as well as significant moments in the life course. RESULTS Our findings point to the complex, confusing and co-existing biographical transitions women experience during midlife (generational, embodied/physiological and material changes) that sharpen a role for alcohol in women's lives and are nuanced by social class (volumes of social, economic and cultural capital). We pay close attention to women's affective interpretations of these transitions and ways alcohol is used to feel robust in navigating daily life or easing their prospective futures. Critically, for women living with limited access to capital, and who could not 'measure up' to social ideals by comparison with the achievements and trajectories of other midlife women, alcohol reconciled their disappointment. Our exploration shows how the social class conditions that shape how women make sense of their transitions through midlife might be differently shaped to enable different options forreducing drinking. CONCLUSIONS Policy must address the social and emotional concerns women experience through midlife transitions that give alcohol a worthwhile place in their lives. A first step might be responding to the absence of community and leisure spaces for midlife women especially those that do not integrate alcohol, with benefits including addressing loneliness, isolation and feeling invisible, and enabling positive constructions of midlife identities. Structural barriers to participation and feelings of worth must be removed for women who lack social, cultural and economic resources.
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Affiliation(s)
- Belinda Lunnay
- Research Centre for Public Health, Equity and Human Flourishing (PHEHF), Torrens University of Australia, Adelaide Campus, 88 Wakefield St, Adelaide SA 5000, Australia.
| | - Jessica Seymour
- Flinders University College of Medicine and Public Health, Bedford Park, SA, Australia
| | - Kristen Foley
- Research Centre for Public Health, Equity and Human Flourishing (PHEHF), Torrens University of Australia, Adelaide Campus, 88 Wakefield St, Adelaide SA 5000, Australia
| | - Connie Musolino
- Stretton Health Equity, Stretton Institute, School of Social Sciences, The University of Adelaide, Australia
| | - Paul R Ward
- Research Centre for Public Health, Equity and Human Flourishing (PHEHF), Torrens University of Australia, Adelaide Campus, 88 Wakefield St, Adelaide SA 5000, Australia
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Lyons AC, Young J, Blake D, Evans P, Stephens C. Home drinking practices among middle-class adults in midlife during the COVID-19 pandemic: Material ubiquity, automatic routines and embodied states. Drug Alcohol Rev 2023. [PMID: 36757806 DOI: 10.1111/dar.13610] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/30/2022] [Revised: 12/11/2022] [Accepted: 12/20/2022] [Indexed: 02/10/2023]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Harmful drinking is increasing among mid-life adults. Using social practice theory, this research investigated the knowledge, actions, materials, places and temporalities that comprise home drinking practices among middle-class adults (40-65 years) in Aotearoa New Zealand during 2021-2022 and post the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns. METHODS Nine friendship groups (N = 45; 26 females, 19 males from various life stages and ethnicities) discussed their drinking practices. A subset of 10 participants (8 female, 2 male) shared digital content (photos, screenshots) about alcohol and drinking over 2 weeks, which they subsequently discussed in an individual interview. Group and interview transcripts were thematically analysed using the digital content to inform the analysis. RESULTS Three themes were identified around home drinking practices, namely: (i) alcohol objects as everywhere, embedded throughout spaces and places in the home; (ii) drinking practices as habitual, automatic and conditioned to mundane everyday domestic chores, routines and times; and (iii) drinking practices intentionally used by participants to achieve desired embodied states to manage feelings linked to domestic and everyday routines. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS Alcohol was normalised and everywhere within the homes of these midlife adults. Alcohol-related objects and products had their own agency, being entangled with domestic routines and activities, affecting drinking in both automatic and intentional ways. Developing alcohol policy that would change its ubiquitous and ordinary status, and the 'automatic' nature of many drinking practices, is needed. This includes restricting marketing and availability to disrupt the acceptability and normalisation of alcohol in the everyday domestic lives of adults at midlife.
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Affiliation(s)
- Antonia C Lyons
- Centre for Addiction Research, Department of Social and Community Health, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.,School of Health, Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand
| | - Jessica Young
- School of Health, Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand
| | - Denise Blake
- School of Health, Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand
| | - Penny Evans
- School of Health, Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand
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Kersey K, Hutton F, Lyons AC. Women, alcohol consumption and health promotion: the value of a critical realist approach. Health Promot Int 2023; 38:6974794. [PMID: 36617295 DOI: 10.1093/heapro/daac177] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/09/2023] Open
Abstract
Research on women's drinking occurs in largely disparate disciplines-including public health, health promotion, psychology, sociology, and cultural studies-and draws on differing philosophical understandings and theoretical frameworks. Tensions between the aims and paradigmatic underpinnings of this research (across and within disciplines) have meant that knowledge and insight can be frequently disciplinary-specific and somewhat siloed. However, in line with the social and economic determinants of the health model, alcohol research needs approaches that can explore how multiple gender-related factors-biological, psycho-social, material, and socio-cultural-combine to produce certain drinking behaviours, pleasures and potential harms. We argue that critical realism as a philosophical underpinning to research can accommodate this broader conceptualization, enabling researchers to draw on multiple perspectives to better understand women's drinking. We illustrate the benefit of this approach by presenting a critical realist theoretical framework for understanding women's drinking that outlines interrelationships between the psychoactive properties of alcohol, the role of embodied individual characteristics and the material, institutional and socio-cultural contexts in which women live. This approach can underpin and foster inter-disciplinary research collaboration to inform more nuanced health promotion practices and policies to reduce alcohol-related harm in a wide range of women across societies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kate Kersey
- School of Health, Victoria University of Wellington, Kelburn Campus, Wellington, New Zealand
| | - Fiona Hutton
- Institute of Criminology, Victoria University of Wellington, Kelburn Campus, Wellington, New Zealand
| | - Antonia C Lyons
- Department of Social and Community Health; Centre for Addiction Research, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
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Lunnay B, Nicholls E, Pennay A, MacLean S, Wilson C, Meyer SB, Foley K, Warin M, Olver I, Ward PR. Sober Curiosity: A Qualitative Study Exploring Women's Preparedness to Reduce Alcohol by Social Class. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND PUBLIC HEALTH 2022; 19:ijerph192214788. [PMID: 36429505 PMCID: PMC9690974 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph192214788] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/14/2022] [Revised: 11/01/2022] [Accepted: 11/07/2022] [Indexed: 05/30/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Urgent action is required to identify socially acceptable alcohol reduction options for heavy-drinking midlife Australian women. This study represents innovation in public health research to explore how current trends in popular wellness culture toward 'sober curiosity' (i.e., an interest in what reducing alcohol consumption would or could be like) and normalising non-drinking could increase women's preparedness to reduce alcohol consumption. METHODS Qualitative interviews were undertaken with 27 midlife Australian women (aged 45-64) living in Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney in different social class groups (working, middle and affluent-class) to explore their perceptions of sober curiosity. RESULTS Women were unequally distributed across social-classes and accordingly the social-class analysis considered proportionally the volume of data at particular codes. Regardless, social-class patterns in women's preparedness to reduce alcohol consumption were generated through data analysis. Affluent women's preparedness to reduce alcohol consumption stemmed from a desire for self-regulation and to retain control; middle-class women's preparedness to reduce alcohol was part of performing civility and respectability and working-class women's preparedness to reduce alcohol was highly challenging. Options are provided for alcohol reduction targeting the social contexts of consumption (the things that lead midlife women to feel prepared to reduce drinking) according to levels of disadvantage. CONCLUSION Our findings reinstate the importance of recognising social class in public health disease prevention; validating that socially determined factors which shape daily living also shape health outcomes and this results in inequities for women in the lowest class positions to reduce alcohol and related risks.
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Affiliation(s)
- Belinda Lunnay
- Research Centre for Public Health, Equity and Human Flourishing, Torrens University, Adelaide 5000, Australia
| | - Emily Nicholls
- Department of Sociology, University of York, York YO10 5DD, UK
| | - Amy Pennay
- Centre for Alcohol Policy Research, La Trobe University, Melbourne 3000, Australia
| | - Sarah MacLean
- Centre for Alcohol Policy Research, La Trobe University, Melbourne 3000, Australia
| | - Carlene Wilson
- College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University, Bedford Park 5042, Australia
| | - Samantha B. Meyer
- School of Public Health Sciences, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada
| | - Kristen Foley
- Research Centre for Public Health, Equity and Human Flourishing, Torrens University, Adelaide 5000, Australia
| | - Megan Warin
- Fay Gale Centre for Research
on Gender, School of Social Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide 5000, Australia
| | - Ian Olver
- School of Psychology, University of Adelaide, Adelaide 5000, Australia
| | - Paul R. Ward
- Research Centre for Public Health, Equity and Human Flourishing, Torrens University, Adelaide 5000, Australia
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Meyer SB, Lunnay B, Warin M, Foley K, Olver IN, Wilson C, Macdonald S. S, Ward PR. Examining social class as it relates to heuristics women use to determine the trustworthiness of information regarding the link between alcohol and breast cancer risk. PLoS One 2022; 17:e0270936. [PMID: 36095014 PMCID: PMC9467310 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0270936] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2022] [Accepted: 06/21/2022] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Background High rates of alcohol consumption by midlife women, despite the documented risks associated with breast cancer, varies according to social class. However, we know little about how to develop equitable messaging regarding breast cancer prevention that takes into consideration class differences in the receipt and use of such information. Objective To explore the heuristics used by women with different (inequitable) life chances to determine the trustworthiness of information regarding alcohol as a modifiable risk factor for breast cancer risk. Methods and materials Interviews were conducted with 50 midlife (aged 45–64) women living in South Australia, diversified by self-reported alcohol consumption and social class. Women were asked to describe where they sought health information, how they accessed information specific to breast cancer risk as it relates to alcohol, and how they determined whether (or not) such information was trustworthy. De-identified transcripts were analysed following a three-step progressive method with the aim of identifying how women of varying life chances determine the trustworthiness of alcohol and breast cancer risk information. Three heuristics were used by women: (1) consideration of whose interests are being served; (2) engagement with ‘common sense’; and (3) evaluating the credibility of the message and messenger. Embedded within each heuristic are notable class-based distinctions. Conclusions More equitable provision of cancer prevention messaging might consider how social class shapes the reception and acceptance of risk information. Class should be considered in the development and tailoring of messages as the trustworthiness of organizations behind public health messaging cannot be assumed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Samantha B. Meyer
- School of Public Health Sciences, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada
- * E-mail:
| | - Belinda Lunnay
- Research Centre on Public Health, Equity and Human Flourishing, Torrens University Australia, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
| | - Megan Warin
- School of Social Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
| | - Kristen Foley
- Research Centre on Public Health, Equity and Human Flourishing, Torrens University Australia, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
| | - Ian N. Olver
- School of Psychology, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
| | - Carlene Wilson
- School of Psychology and Public Health and the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Wellness and Research Centre at Austin Health, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - Sara Macdonald S.
- Institute of Health & Wellbeing, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, Scotland
| | - Paul R. Ward
- Research Centre on Public Health, Equity and Human Flourishing, Torrens University Australia, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
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Lunnay B, Foley K, Meyer SB, Miller ER, Warin M, Wilson C, Olver IN, Batchelor S, Thomas JA, Ward PR. 'I have a healthy relationship with alcohol': Australian midlife women, alcohol consumption and social class. Health Promot Int 2022; 37:6674367. [PMID: 36000531 DOI: 10.1093/heapro/daac097] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Alcohol consumption by Australian women during midlife has been increasing. Health promotion efforts to reduce alcohol consumption in order to reduce alcohol-related disease risk compete with the social contexts and value of alcohol in women's lives. This paper draws on 50 qualitative interviews with midlife women (45-64 years of age) from different social classes living in South Australia in order to gain an understanding of how and why women might justify their relationships with alcohol. Social class shaped and characterized the different types of relationships with alcohol available to women, structuring their logic for consuming alcohol and their ability to consider reducing (or 'breaking up with') alcohol. We identified more agentic relationships with alcohol in the narratives of affluent women. We identified a tendency for less control over alcohol-related decisions in the narratives of women with less privileged life chances, suggesting greater challenges in changing drinking patterns. If classed differences are not attended to in health promotion efforts, this might mitigate the effectiveness of alcohol risk messaging to women.
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Affiliation(s)
- Belinda Lunnay
- Research Centre of Public Health, Equity and Human Flourishing, Torrens University Australia, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
| | - Kristen Foley
- Research Centre of Public Health, Equity and Human Flourishing, Torrens University Australia, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
| | - Samantha B Meyer
- School of Public Health and Health Systems, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
| | | | - Megan Warin
- School of Social Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia and Fay Gale Centre for Research on Gender, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
| | - Carlene Wilson
- School of Psychology and Public Health and the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Wellness and Research Centre at Austin Health, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - Ian N Olver
- School of Psychology, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
| | - Samantha Batchelor
- Research Centre of Public Health, Equity and Human Flourishing, Torrens University Australia, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
| | - Jessica A Thomas
- College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
| | - Paul R Ward
- Research Centre of Public Health, Equity and Human Flourishing, Torrens University Australia, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
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Huppatz E, Lunnay B, Foley K, Miller ER, Warin M, Wilson C, Olver IN, Ward PR. Adaptive capacity: A qualitative study of midlife Australian women's resilience during COVID-19. SSM - MENTAL HEALTH 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.ssmmh.2022.100080] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
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