Exploring promising gender-sensitive tobacco and alcohol use interventions: results of a scoping review

Exploring the significance of relationality, care and governmentality in families, for understanding women's classed alcohol drinking practices

In this paper we explore the importance of relationality and care for understanding women's alcohol use, using a theoretical framework comprising concepts from feminist ethics of care, the sociology of personal life, and feminist approaches to governmentality. A key focus is how care giving responsibilities and expectations in families appear to be particularly significant for creating or constraining possibilities for drinking practices. We draw on findings from a qualitative study about alcohol use and stress with 26 women, aged 24-67 years, in the North East of England, UK. We consider how care practices in families feature in the accounts of alcohol use by women with and without children, and how the symbolic and material aspects of social class interact with care to alter the drinking practices women engage in. The interpretation extends scholarship on women's drinking, by adopting a relational approach to identity and linking private care practices and alcohol use to social and political structures. Public health approaches for preventing or reducing heavy drinking practices are predominantly situated within biomedical or psychological paradigms. Intervention approaches to reduce women's drinking that draw on our theoretical framework could offer potential for reducing harmful alcohol use in a more meaningful way.

Non-Pharmacological Interventions to Reduce Unhealthy Eating and Risky Drinking in Young Adults Aged 18⁻25 Years: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Alcohol use peaks in early adulthood and can contribute both directly and indirectly to unhealthy weight gain. This review aimed to systematically evaluate the effectiveness of preventative targeted interventions focused on reducing unhealthy eating behavior and linked alcohol use in 18⁻25-year-olds. Twelve electronic databases were searched from inception to June 2018 for trials or experimental studies, of any duration or follow-up. Eight studies (seven with student populations) met the inclusion criteria. Pooled estimates demonstrated inconclusive evidence that receiving an intervention resulted in changes to self-reported fruit and vegetable consumption (mean change/daily servings: 0.33; 95% CI -0.22 to 0.87) and alcohol consumption (mean reduction of 0.6 units/week; CI -1.35 to 0.19). There was also little difference in the number of binge drinking episodes per week between intervention and control groups (-0.01 sessions; CI -0.07 to 0.04). This review identified only a small number of relevant studies. Importantly, included studies did not assess whether (and how) unhealthy eating behaviors and alcohol use link together. Further exploratory work is needed to inform the development of appropriate interventions, with outcome measures that have the capacity to link food and alcohol consumption, in order to establish behavior change in this population group.

A knowledge synthesis of culturally- and spiritually-sensitive end-of-life care: findings from a scoping review

Background

Multiple factors influence the end-of-life (EoL) care and experience of poor quality services by culturally- and spiritually-diverse groups. Access to EoL services e.g. health and social supports at home or in hospices is difficult for ethnic minorities compared to white European groups. A tool is required to empower patients and families to access culturally-safe care. This review was undertaken by the Canadian Virtual Hospice as a foundation for this tool.

Methods

To explore attitudes, behaviours and patterns to utilization of EoL care by culturally and spiritually diverse groups and identify gaps in EoL care practice and delivery methods, a scoping review and thematic analysis of article content was conducted. Fourteen electronic databases and websites were searched between June–August 2014 to identify English-language peer-reviewed publications and grey literature (including reports and other online resources) published between 2004–2014.

Results

The search identified barriers and enablers at the systems, community and personal/family levels. Primary barriers include: cultural differences between healthcare providers; persons approaching EoL and family members; under-utilization of culturally-sensitive models designed to improve EoL care; language barriers; lack of awareness of cultural and religious diversity issues; exclusion of families in the decision-making process; personal racial and religious discrimination; and lack of culturally-tailored EoL information to facilitate decision-making.

Conclusions

This review highlights that most research has focused on decision-making. There were fewer studies exploring different cultural and spiritual experiences at the EoL and interventions to improve EoL care. Interventions evaluated were largely educational in nature rather than service oriented.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12877-016-0282-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Parental drinking and adverse outcomes in children: A scoping review of cohort studies

Introduction and Aims

There is a growing interest in measuring alcohol's harms to people other than the drinker themselves. ‘Children of alcoholics’ and foetal alcohol spectrum disorder have received widespread attention. Less is known about how children are affected by post‐natal exposure to parental drinking other than alcohol abuse/dependence. In this scoping review, we aim to assemble and map existing evidence from cohort studies on the consequences of parental alcohol use for children, and to identify limitations and gaps in this literature.

Design and Methods

Systematic review methods were used. Electronic databases were searched (1980 to October 2013) and a total of 3215 abstracts were screened, 326 full text papers examined and 99 eligible for inclusion according to selection criteria including separation of exposure and outcome measurement in time and report of a quantitative effect size.

Results

The main finding is the large literature available. Adolescent drinking behaviour was the most common outcome measure and outcomes other than substance use were rarely analysed. In almost two of every three published associations, parental drinking was found to be statistically significantly associated with a child harm outcome measure. Several limitations in the literature are noted regarding its potential to address a possible causal role of parental drinking in children's adverse outcomes.

Discussion and Conclusions

This study identifies targets for further study and provides a platform for more targeted analytic investigations which ascertain risk of bias, and which are capable of considering the appropriateness of causal inferences for the observed associations. [Rossow I, Felix L, Keating P, McCambridge J. Parental drinking and adverse outcomes in children: A scoping review of cohort studies. Drug Alcohol Rev 2016;35:397–405]