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Biomedical subjects

T Stockwell

Publications and source records attributed to T Stockwell.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1999

Beverage sales and drinking and driving: the role of on-premise drinking places.

OBJECTIVE: The relationships between on-premise drinking places, beverage specific alcohol sales and drinking and driving were examined in a time series cross-sectional study of place-of-last-drink data from Perth, Western Australia. METHOD: At arrest, 2,411 drinking drivers reported their last location of consumption. Tabulated by 57 premises over 4 years, the rates at which individual premises were referenced as the place-of-last-drink were taken to reflect the relative distributions of numbers of drinking drivers coming from different premise types (hotels, taverns and nightclubs). The data were then statistically related to measures of premise types and characteristics and beverage specific alcohol sales. RESULTS: Significant cross-sectional relationships were obtained between measures of premise types, alcohol sales and drinking and driving. Greatest numbers of drinking drivers came from taverns and from places selling greater amounts of beer and spirits. Significant longitudinal effects were obtained for sales of beer, proportions of high alcohol beer sold and sales of spirits. CONCLUSIONS: As a whole, the results suggest that, at least for Western Australia, outlets selling greater amounts of beer and spirits, and greater amounts of high alcohol beer, will produce larger numbers of drinking drivers.

Accidents, Traffic↗
PubMed1998

Alcohol consumption and injury in Western Australia: a spatial correlation analysis using geographic information systems.

Geographic information systems technology was used to describe, in geographical terms, the nature and strength of the relationship in Western Australia between alcohol consumption and the rates of related injury: night-time assaults (10 p.m. to 6 a.m.); minor night-time road crashes (10 p.m. to 6 a.m.), weighted by traffic density; and hospital E-code (external-cause) morbidity, weighted by alcohol aetiologic fractions. The data were aggregated by five conventional state regions: northern, central, western, southern and Perth metropolitan. There was a general association, of equal significance for males and females, between estimated per capita alcohol consumption and the selected rates of injury in the five regions. However, the nature and strength of association between alcohol consumption and individual injury measures varied. Night-time assaults and hospital E-code morbidity were strongly, associated with consumption. Minor night-time crashes had only a weak association. The variation in the relationship between alcohol consumption and injury suggests that prevention strategies need to take into account the particular drinking patterns and associated harm that occur in different regions of the state, and to develop a range of targeted responses. High rates of consumption and injury in most country areas support the need for greater regional prevention efforts.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1998

Consumption of different alcoholic beverages as predictors of local rates of night-time assault and acute alcohol-related morbidity.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether population levels of consumption of some alcoholic beverages are more closely associated with levels of harm than others, particularly if consumption of cask wine is more strongly related to rates of acute alcohol problems than consumption of bottled wine as a consequence of the extremely low rates of federal tax levied on the former. METHOD: A database of alcohol consumption and related problems was established for 130 areas of Western Australia. Demographic and economic data for these areas were included from the 1991 census. Empirically derived assumptions regarding the mean wholesale price of cask and bottled wine were utilised. Regression analyses examined the extent to which the consumption of different alcoholic beverages predicted levels of major varieties of harm. RESULTS: Only cask wine and high-strength beer consumption were significantly associated with rates of night-time assault; consumption of all beverage varieties except bottled wine was significantly associated with rates of acute alcohol-related morbidity. Further analyses, which included controls for an effect of total alcohol consumption, confirmed the pronounced contributions of cask wine and high-strength beer to rates of night assaults and acute alcohol-related morbidity. The proportion of all alcohol consumed as low-alcohol beer was significantly negatively associated with these harms. CONCLUSIONS: The beverages most associated with rates of night-time assaults and acute alcohol-related morbidity are those with the lowest federal taxation per standard drink, i.e. cask not bottled wine and regular-strength not low-alcohol beer.

Adult↗
PubMed1996

Pseudo-drunk-patron evaluation of bar-staff compliance with Western Australian liquor law.

Compliance of bar staff with the Western Australian liquor law prohibiting service to drunk patrons was assessed through the deployment of actors trained to behave in a drunken manner. The serving practices of 23 licensed premises (19 hotels and four nightclubs) were examined. During 120 visits to hotel and nightclub bars, more than 350 drink orders were placed by pairs of pseudo-drunk actors who ordered up to three drinks each on each visit. On placing these drink orders, pseudo-drunks were refused service by bar staff on only 12 occasions. The rate of refusal of service across all premises was 10 per cent of visits. Partial interventions by servers, such as offering food or low-alcohol or nonalcoholic drinks, occurred in only four instances of the 120 visits. Qualitative observations and results obtained from a separate study examining a subsample of the servers who trained in responsible service of alcohol are discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed1996

Use of pseudo-patrons to assess compliance with laws regarding under-age drinking.

The extent to which door and bar staff of licensed premises responded to possibly under-age patrons was assessed through the use of research assistants (young pseudo-patrons) selected for having the appearance of being under 18 years old. A total of 156 visits were made to 13 licensed premises: 1. before delivery of a server training program, 2. immediately after training, and 3. after three months. Staff rarely checked the age and/or identification (ID) of the young pseudo-patrons before or after training. However, a significant interaction was found between the sex of the pseudo-patron and the type of premises. Door staff, who were predominantly at nightclubs, were more likely to check the ID of female pseudo-patrons and hotel bar staff were more likely to check the ID of males. In most cases, however, nonphotographic ID was accepted. While some strategies are suggested, the strongest and most effective measure to prevent under-age drinking will be a more rigorous enforcement of existing liquor laws.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1994

The measurement of alcohol dependence and impaired control in community samples.

The concept of the Alcohol Dependence Syndrome has been influential in the field of alcohol studies in the 1980s. The Severity of Alcohol Dependence Questionnaire (SADQ) is one of a generation of alcohol problem scales developed to measure degree of dependence rather than presence or absence of 'alcoholism'. This paper describes the development of a form of the SADQ for community samples of drinkers (SADQ-C) and its relationship to a brief scale designed to measure impaired control over drinking. In a sample of 52 problem drinkers, SADQ and SADQ-C correlated almost perfectly (r = 0.98). In a larger sample of 197 attenders at a controlled drinking clinic, Principal Components Analysis revealed one major factor accounting for 71.7% of the total variance. High internal reliability was indicated with a Cronbach's Alpha of 0.98. Application of this instrument in a random survey of Western Australian households is then described. It was necessary to remove items relating to 'reinstatement of dependence' for this sample. A single major factor was identified by principal components analysis, accounting for 69.1% of the total variance. In both the clinic and the community samples SADQ-C scores correlated highly with Impairment of Control scores. The findings are interpreted as supporting the view that there is a single dimension of alcohol dependence upon which all persons who drink alcohol with any regularity may be located.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1994

Alcohol withdrawal: an adaptation to heavy drinking of no practical significance?

Markedly differing views can be found among both clinicians and researchers regarding whether alcohol withdrawal is a phenomenon of any practical or theoretical importance. Evidence has mounted that alcohol withdrawal, even in a severe form, is rarely life-threatening and the great majority of cases can be managed in non-medical settings, including the home. There is also a widely held view among clinicians that withdrawal symptoms have little motivational significance and may be best regarded as but epiphenomena of prolonged heavy drinking. There are also experimental data from both human and animal laboratory studies to the effect that withdrawal symptoms do not readily trigger further alcohol consumption. Against this most unpromising background a case is presented for alcohol withdrawal being but one manifestation of important biological and psychological adaptive processes which occur almost whenever alcohol is consumed with any regularity. It is proposed that understanding this more general phenomenon is critical to a better understanding of the factors which maintain heavy and problematic drinking. Recent evidence also suggests that minor alcohol withdrawal symptoms are far more common in the general population than had previously been realized, and that this has important implications for prevention policy.

Alcohol Drinking↗
PubMed1993

Influencing the labelling of alcoholic beverage containers: informing the public.

In 1990, a small research project costing about Aus. $4500 conducted in a Perth shopping centre directly influenced the development of a national policy within 4 months of its completion. The policy in question is a recommendation by Australia's Ministerial Council on Drug Strategy that all alcoholic beverage containers should carry labels indicating the number of 'standard drinks' they contain. The purpose of this paper is to describe the events leading up to so unusual an event with a view to discerning what factors may have been critical for its occurrence. The paper attempts to analyse the nature of the interactions between the research team and the policy makers. It is argued that the critical factors included there being a favourable policy climate created by the National Campaign Against Drug Abuse, the support of influential public servants and, in turn, politicians, the consultative process which lead to the study's design and the manner in which the findings were disseminated.

Alcohol Drinking↗