http://nova.newcastle.edu.au/vital/access/services/Feed ${session.getAttribute("locale")} 5 http://nova.newcastle.edu.au/vital/access/manager/Repository/uon:12536 This is a watershed year for New Zealand alcohol policy. The long awaited Alcohol Reform Bill (ARB) will be considered in Parliament and a number of changes are likely to be legislated, perhaps before the end of 2011. The ARB is the government’s response to the Law Commission’s 2010 review report, Alcohol in Our Lives: Curbing the Harm [1]. The review was initiated by the previous Labour government in response to longstanding public and political concern over alcohol related harm in New Zealand, particularly violence. It drew from research evidence and 3000 public submissions to produce recommendations for substantial legislative reform. The Bill has now been referred to a Select Committee for consideration of public, expert and industry submissions, with a report due to Parliament in May 2011. In a previous article we evaluated elements of the Law Commission’s 2009 Issues Paper [2], in terms of whether its suggestions for reform were evidence based. Our aim here is to critically reflect on the quality of the Law Commission’s final advice to parliament and the degree to which the Government, through the ARB, rises to the challenge presented by this once-in-ageneration opportunity for liquor law reform. 2013-02-13T05:40:04.351Z ]]> http://nova.newcastle.edu.au/vital/access/manager/Repository/uon:11845 Objective: There has been little investigation of non-response bias in web-based health surveys. We hypothesised that non-respondents have a higher prevalence of risk behaviours than respondents. Method: In 2005, random samples of students aged 17–25 years from 12 New Zealand tertiary institutions (n=7130) were invited to complete a web-based health behaviour survey, with three e-mail reminders. Early respondents (before 2nd reminder) were compared with late respondents (after 2nd reminder). Late respondents served as a proxy for non-respondents. Results: 2607 students (37%) responded early, 676 (9%) responded late, and 3847 (54%) did not respond. There were differences between early and late respondents in high school binge drinking (38% vs 47%, p=0.002) and non-compliance with physical activity guidelines (12% vs 18%, p=0.004). Differences in overweight/obesity (26% vs 31%, p=0.058), smoking (18% vs 22%, p=0.091) and non-compliance with dietary guidelines (76% vs 77%, p=0.651) were non-significant but point estimates were in the expected direction. Estimated bias in prevalence of risk behaviours was an absolute difference of 1–4% and a relative difference of 0–21%. Conclusion: Respondents whose participation was hardest to elicit reported more risk behaviour. Assuming non-respondents' behaviour is similar or more extreme than that of late respondents, prevalence will have been substantially underestimated. 2012-10-30T00:15:28.226Z ]]> http://nova.newcastle.edu.au/vital/access/manager/Repository/uon:11804 Many studies, mostly involving US college students, ostensibly show that young people tend to believe that more of their peers engage in heavy episodic drinking, illicit drug use and risky sex than actually do so. College students are also found to misperceive injunctive norms, thinking that their peers are more permissive of certain risk behaviours than they really are. These errors of judgement have been framed in terms of pluralistic ignorance, described as a phenomenon in which ‘a majority of group members privately reject a norm, but assume (incorrectly) that most others accept it’. 2012-10-24T05:45:58.367Z ]]> http://nova.newcastle.edu.au/vital/access/manager/Repository/uon:2664 Drinking to intoxication is a modifiable risk factor for various health, social, and legal problems. The objective was to estimate the relative risk of intoxication by type of drinking location. Participants were 1614 university students (mean age 19.0 years) in residential halls who completed a web survey (67% response). Respondents reported their drinking for each day of the preceding week, in residential halls, pubs/bars/nightclubs, student flats/houses, and ‘other’ locations. An estimated blood alcohol concentration (EBAC) was computed and intoxication was defined as EBAC > 0.08%. Pubs/bars/nightclubs accounted for 51% of all alcohol consumed, followed by residential halls (34%), student flats/houses (9%), and other locations (6%). Episodes resulting in intoxication comprised 61% of all drinking episodes in pubs/bars/nightclubs, 55% in student flats/houses, 53% in residential halls, and 37% in other locations. Multi-level analyses revealed positive associations between the first three location types (relative to ‘other’) and intoxication among women. Drinking in pubs/bars/nightclubs was associated with intoxication among men. Other significant predictors included hazardous drinking in the respondent's residential hall, pre-university drinking, and first-year status. Student intoxication is commonplace in licensed premises and residential halls. These environments are amenable to interventions to reduce the incidence of intoxication. 2010-04-27T06:37:10.812Z ]]>