Seeking help because of others' drinking

Introduction and Aims: Many individuals contact and are assisted by community and emergency services because of someone else's drinking. Previous studies have focused on family members accessing services, such as Alcoholics Anonymous due to significant others' drinking; however, little is...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Mugavin, J., Livingston, M., Laslett, Anne-Marie
Format: Journal Article
Published: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd. 2014
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/26245
_version_ 1848751931360542720
author Mugavin, J.
Livingston, M.
Laslett, Anne-Marie
author_facet Mugavin, J.
Livingston, M.
Laslett, Anne-Marie
author_sort Mugavin, J.
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Introduction and Aims: Many individuals contact and are assisted by community and emergency services because of someone else's drinking. Previous studies have focused on family members accessing services, such as Alcoholics Anonymous due to significant others' drinking; however, little is known about service use in the broad community. This paper aims to estimate the prevalence of contacting the police and seeking help from health services because of others' drinking and to compare the profiles of individuals seeking services with those who did not contact a service. Design and Methods: A total of 2649 adult Australians were surveyed about their experience of harm from others' drinking, including use of emergency and community services. Results: In the 12 months prior to the survey, 13% of respondents had contacted the police and 5% had sought help from a health-related service. Using logistic regression, being older and having a secondary school education were associated with a decreased likelihood of contacting police because of others' drinking, whereas residing in a non-metropolitan location was positively associated with using health-related services. Having a partner was negatively associated with use of health-related services. The extent of self-reported harm from others' drinking was the only factor associated with use of both police and health-related services. Discussion and Conclusion: Results suggest differences in the profile of respondents who call the police and those who seek health-related services due to others' drinking. This supports the need for tailored services to support and address the needs of people experiencing harm from others' drinking.
first_indexed 2025-11-14T08:00:34Z
format Journal Article
id curtin-20.500.11937-26245
institution Curtin University Malaysia
institution_category Local University
last_indexed 2025-11-14T08:00:34Z
publishDate 2014
publisher Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
recordtype eprints
repository_type Digital Repository
spelling curtin-20.500.11937-262452017-09-13T15:27:13Z Seeking help because of others' drinking Mugavin, J. Livingston, M. Laslett, Anne-Marie Introduction and Aims: Many individuals contact and are assisted by community and emergency services because of someone else's drinking. Previous studies have focused on family members accessing services, such as Alcoholics Anonymous due to significant others' drinking; however, little is known about service use in the broad community. This paper aims to estimate the prevalence of contacting the police and seeking help from health services because of others' drinking and to compare the profiles of individuals seeking services with those who did not contact a service. Design and Methods: A total of 2649 adult Australians were surveyed about their experience of harm from others' drinking, including use of emergency and community services. Results: In the 12 months prior to the survey, 13% of respondents had contacted the police and 5% had sought help from a health-related service. Using logistic regression, being older and having a secondary school education were associated with a decreased likelihood of contacting police because of others' drinking, whereas residing in a non-metropolitan location was positively associated with using health-related services. Having a partner was negatively associated with use of health-related services. The extent of self-reported harm from others' drinking was the only factor associated with use of both police and health-related services. Discussion and Conclusion: Results suggest differences in the profile of respondents who call the police and those who seek health-related services due to others' drinking. This supports the need for tailored services to support and address the needs of people experiencing harm from others' drinking. 2014 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/26245 10.1111/dar.12113 Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd. restricted
spellingShingle Mugavin, J.
Livingston, M.
Laslett, Anne-Marie
Seeking help because of others' drinking
title Seeking help because of others' drinking
title_full Seeking help because of others' drinking
title_fullStr Seeking help because of others' drinking
title_full_unstemmed Seeking help because of others' drinking
title_short Seeking help because of others' drinking
title_sort seeking help because of others' drinking
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/26245