Health Experts Call For New Tact In Binge Drinking Battle
Health experts are appealing for a change of tact in the battle against binge drinking.
Nurse manager at the Cardiff University Dental Hospital, Catherine Bridgeman, said that campaigns should target people’s vanity, rather than focusing on their health, as research suggests that young people are more concerned about their looks than their health.
Catherine has been actively involved in a project based in Cardiff and claims that people are more bothered about the potential harm drinking could do to their looks than they are about the health implications of binge drinking; Catherine said that people tend to ignore information about increased risk of cancer or heart disease and seem more concerned about the negative effects drinking could have on the way they look.
The project aims to reduce drinking among young people, rates of binge drinking have increased significantly across the UK and the number of people hospitalised as a direct result of drinking is higher than ever before. Nurses involved in the project have been talking to people about their drinking habits while they are being treated for injuries sustained as a result of drinking alcohol; nurses follow a structured conversation format while they are stitching up wounds or tending to cuts, sprains and other drinking injuries to try and ascertain what role people think drinking has played in their condition.
Catherine said that her research has taught her that there is very little point in talking to young people about their health because they assume that they will only be affected when they are much older and they cannot visualise what their lives will be like at the age of 50 or 60 years old; instead, she has found that talking to young people about their appearance has been much more influential.
Catherine said that she takes time to explain that facial injuries cause scars and although the patient may only have a small graze now next time this could be a much more severe injury, which may need surgery and cause long-term damage to the skin.
Research by Cardiff University revealed that the approach had contributed to ‘long-term reductions in drinking’ in a quarter of people.
The project will now be rolled out across Wales.
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