Health promotion implementation and project reporting processes

Health Promotion Intervention to raise awareness of the risk factors associated with binge drinking amongst Undergraduate Students at London Metropolitan University

The main aim of this health intervention is to lay emphasis on the fatal and harmful levels of binge drinking that is common among the student community of Undergraduates at the London Metropolitan University.

Moreover, this intervention shall work to increase the awareness of the risk factors pertaining to the normal health of the students, associated with binge drinking. We shall also use this intervention to highlight and then make use of the appropriate information so that campaigns on the promotion of health in individuals can be launched. One of the aims is also to intervene in order to prevent the future health risk and high level of harm so that injury and death rates can be reduced; of the injuries and deaths that are caused by acute intoxication. According to some reports, these rates have almost doubled in the last two decades, both in males and females (The Academy of Medical Sciences, 2004). One of the aims of this intervention would also be to analyze the benefits associated with good health.

The target group that was selected for this particular intervention was based on a group of 10 students who were undergraduates at London Metropolitan University. In order to make this intervention as effective as possible, it was decided that these 10 self-selected undergraduate students from London Metropolitan University would be asked to fill in the questionnaires.

The outline of the project would be that this intervention would be done through implementation of Educational approach as this intervention would provide its participants with motivation and knowledge that would help them make the right choices and decisions pertaining to their health by identifying their needs and then gain skills and confidence. The next approach would be to encourage independence by providing the participants with the information regarding the health hazards of binge drinking. A part of the project would be to host a dedicated forum on the subject of binge drinking. This intervention would make it possible for the students to make sure that they are not making their health suffer and so that their needs are identified.

Rationale

I chose to do a project on this topic because of the alarming statistics that were stated by NHS Information Centre, Statistics on Alcohol (2012) that revealed that a great fraction of adult drinkers run a high risk of health hazards. Moreover, drinking has also become the top health concern among the public since intoxication has led to a great number of unnatural deaths and morbidities.

The incidents that led to preventable deaths because of excessive drinking imposed a significant amount of cost on the National Health Service, Probation Service, Police, Prison Service as well as the Courts. It is important to emphasize on this subject because more and more adults are getting addicted to drinking that results in behaviors that can be damaging to the individuals themselves as well as the society (Rowntree, 2005).

A study that was carried out in the year 2007 revealed that there were almost 134,429 prescriptions that were made by the doctors for the people who had become addicted to binge drinking, in England alone. These prescriptions were made in primary care centers and NHS hospitals and then were dispensed in the community. According to these statistics, there has been an increase of 31% in these prescriptions since the year 2003, as the number of prescriptions for the treatment of alcohol dependency back then was only 102,741. Last but not the least, in the year 2007, the number of deaths that took place directly because of alcohol drinking was about 6,541. This figure has increased by almost 19% since the year 2001. Out of these deaths associated to alcohol drinking, it has been reported that most of these deaths occurred because of some liver disease in these chronic drinkers.

As mentioned earlier, the main aim of this intervention is to create awareness and promote well-being of undergraduate Student in London Metropolitan University. Secondly, the aim of this intervention is to assist the students to change their way of living and highlight their concerns pertaining to the problems associated with binge drinking.

The objective of this intervention was that at the end of this, all participants should be able to state five health risks associated with binge drinking, list seven places in the community that provide support on binge drinking or outreach forums and to define six health benefits that is of not drinking.

Methods

Many different approaches have been adopted for this health promotion project. Some of these methods we shall look at in this section, while the results of these shall be discussed in the subsequent ones. The most common approach was to make the participants of this project fill out a questionnaire that had questions whose answers would help analyze the problems associated with alcohol consumption, its social influences, sensation seeking and other motives that drive them to drink.

Other questionnaires have been formulated to assess the role expectations that people have perceived about alcohol and the rules about safe drinking. These questionnaires can also be about the difference of trends among male and female students. The methodology that got a response rate of about 94 per cent was the one in which non-standardized questionnaires were used and they were completed by the researchers while the process of matriculation was going on.

Outcomes

The result of the first methodology that was talked about indicates the significance of social influences as well as that of positive reinforcement motives of drinking. However, it does not suggest anything about the primary motive that is involved behind drinking in this population. When the questionnaires for the second methodology were received it was found out that drinking was very common among the male as well as the female students and they were not aware of the hazards of drinking. The third survey suggested that the everyday guidelines associated with women were not recollected by 54% of the female participants; meanwhile 52% of them could not recall the unit content that was contained in their favourite drink. As for the remaining 14% of the people, they were aware of the UK unit system of drinking.

Literature Review

In one of the interventions that had been done before, 64 one on one interview were carried out by people aged between 14 and 17 years who lived in southern England and who were involved in binge drinking. Since these samples were underage, it shows that this drinking was done outside the house without anyone's supervision. These children were motivated to drink mainly because of social issues, for example peer pressure. Since the severity, prevalence and variety of the outcomes indicates that binge drinking is associated with increased risk; this research lays emphasis on education people involved in such type of drinking. Keeping in mind the age of the participants of this intervention (that was 14-15 years); it was also argued in this research that alcohol education should be made a part of the curriculum in schools and colleges (Coleman and Cater, 2005).

Next, there have been interventions and researches that have identified the patterns and levels of drinking in young females. Although, these interventions have not been very effective, the main aim of these studies was to look into the levels of awareness pertaining to 'Sensible drinking' that is present in residents of UK regarding the drinking habits in young females. One of the other aims of this research was also to identify the populations and languages in which in binge drinking is more prevalent. The guidelines of Sensible Drinking have also been elaborated on in this intervention (Gill and O'May, 2007).

Another study that was done found its basis on the previous researches as well as the conceptual associations. This study was based on three primary objectives. The main aim of this study was examine the motivational model presented by Cooper et. al (1995) pertaining to its use in a generalized sample of college students, followed by devising an extension of this model so as to also include the social factors and to experiment this extension in a greater sample (Read, Kahler, Wood, Maddock and Palfai, 2003).

It is also important for researchers to predict the number of people in a generalized group of people, who would indulge in binge drinking. Moreover, it should also be analyzed that what is risk and frequency of binge drinking in this group of people. Many risk factors have also been identified in this particular research paper. These include class, race, fraternity and social pressures. On the other hand, many factors that distinguish high-frequency binge drinkers from low-frequency binge drinkers were also identified in this intervention (Strano, Cuomo and Venable, 2004).

Many interventions and researchers are trying to bring up the fact that binge drinking is becoming an increasingly popular pattern among the college students. Therefore, it is the duty of the counselors, administrators, teachers and principals of schools and colleges to make sure that their students are being educated regarding the hazards of alcohol consumption. It is important for us to define what binge drinking is. It is defined as the consumption of alcohol of more than or equal to five pints in a row. Moreover, this kind of drinking has been labeled as one of the most hazardous public health concerns especially among college students. It has also been established that the young people who binge drink are more prone to getting health problems associated with drinking than their counterparts who do drink in some other way. These students are more likely to miss their classes because of the frequent black outs and hang overs. It has also been argued that binge drinkers indulge in unsafe behavior more than any other group of youngsters. Also, these people indulge in violent activities and have more encounters with the police. It has also been suggested in this research that binge drinkers have more chances of developing alcohol dependencies for which they seek treatment (Durkin, Keith F.; Wolfe, Timothy W. et al., 1999).

In one of the interventions that were planned for the prevention of binge drinking, the approach that was adopted was to target the group of individuals who were at a high risk of getting addicted to binge drinking. This intervention consisted primarily on interviewing the people who were at high risk and then encouraging giving up this habit by creating awareness of the hazards of drinking. Another aspect of this intervention that was equally important was the involvement of the staff and faculty (Sharma and Kanekar, 2008).

One of the important hazards of binge drinking that has been ignored by most of the interventions is its strong relationship with gambling. It has been established through other researches that students who are involved in binge drinking in college tend to be involved in gambling and other such activities. This creates further concern for the prevention of binge drinking among college students. Moreover, some of the interventions have also proved a positive relationship between binge drinking and the other drug abuse. For example, it has been revealed that students who are indulged in binge drinking are often users of heroin, marijuana and tobacco. The use of these drugs along with alcohol and gambling can completely devastate the social life and health of the students. Therefore, college population should be targeted by the college administrations and other authorities to make sure that things are under control (Bhullar, Simons, Joshi and Amoroso, 2012).

Some interventions were also done to establish a relationship between the amount of alcohol that was consumed by students and the amount of alcohol that was believed by their colleagues that they had consumed. Moreover, investigations were also made whether or not and to what extent does peer pressure effect the drinking habits of students. In this particular intervention, 306 students were selected from The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey who were provided with the Survey of Students' Perceptions of Campus Alcohol and Other Drug Norms. Through this intervention, it was concluded that the amount of alcohol that is actually consumed by students and the amount of alcohol that is perceived by other students is not the same (Miley and Frank, 2006).

As mentioned earlier, the link between binge drinking and risky sexual behavior is there, however this link is mixed. Some of the researchers have concluded that there is some association with unsafe sexual behavior and binge drinking, but they have also said that this kind of behavior depends on the sex partner as well as the amount of alcohol that has been consumed by the person. According to some other interventions, the unsafe sexual behavior under the influence of binge drinking is associated with new partners. This was concluded after 576 college students were given self-report questionnaires to fill out. Meanwhile, there are other researches that show that when people are intoxicated and are about to have intercourse with a new partner, there are more chances of that person to use condoms. Therefore, in this article the factors that influence the link between risky sexual behavior and binge drinking (Simons, Lantz, Lachine and Ascolese, 2005).

Although, the facts that binge drinking is on a rise among college students and the health hazards associated with it are alarming, there are many terms that need to be cleared. Basically, it should be clear in the minds of the people that even though binge drinking means drinking five or more pints of alcohol in a row for males and four or more for females is very hazardous for the human health, what can be more hazardous is the concurrent use of other drugs. It has been established by some of the interventions that randomly chose college students that the use of alcohol has not raised significantly over the years but the use of marijuana and other drugs has increased among college students (O'Grady, Aria et. al, 2008).