- Title
- Reducing risky drinking and alcohol-related harm in the sports setting
- Creator
- Kingsland, Melanie
- Relation
- University of Newcastle Research Higher Degree Thesis
- Resource Type
- thesis
- Date
- 2016
- Description
- Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
- Description
- Background: Players and spectators of sport report consuming alcohol at levels that place them at increased risk of alcohol-related harm compared to the overall adult population. Sports clubs represent a promising setting for the implementation of interventions to reduce such consumption and harm. Aims: This thesis aimed: 1. To identify the characteristics and practices of community football clubs that are associated with risky alcohol consumption (Chapter 2). ; 2. To assess attitudes of football club management regarding alcohol use at sports clubs and alcohol harm reduction strategies (Chapter 3). ; 3. To develop (Chapter 4) and evaluate the effectiveness of interventions to: a) improve the implementation of alcohol management practices at community sports clubs (Chapter 5) ; b) reduce risky alcohol consumption and alcohol-related harm among community sports club members (players, spectators and officials) (Chapter 6). ; 4. To systematically review and synthesise current evidence of the effectiveness of interventions to reduce risky drinking and alcohol-related harm in sports settings generally (Chapters 7 and Chapter 8). ; 5. To provide recommendations for future research and practice regarding interventions to reduce risky alcohol consumption and alcohol-related harm in the sports setting (Chapter 9). Methods: Aims 1 to 3 have been addressed through a series of studies undertaken within community football clubs and club members in urban and rural areas of New South Wales, Australia. These studies involved: a cross-sectional survey of 1428 football club members from 88 football clubs (Aim 1); a cross-sectional survey of 101 community football club management representatives (Aim 2); a randomised controlled trial of 87 football clubs (Aim 3a); and, a cluster randomised controlled trial of members of community football clubs (N=1411 at pre-intervention; N=1143 post-intervention)(Aim 3b). Aim 4 was addressed through a systematic review of published and grey literature. Key findings: Members of clubs that served alcohol to intoxicated people (OR: 2.23, 95%CI: 1.26-3.93; p=0.0074) conducted ‘happy hour’ promotions (OR: 2.84, 95%CI: 1.84-4.38; p<0.0001) or provided alcohol-only awards and prizes (OR: 1.80, 95%CI: 1.16-2.80; p=0.0084) were at significantly greater odds of consuming alcohol at risky levels than members of clubs that did not undertake such practices (Chapter 2). ; Over half of sports club representatives believed that players often consume too much alcohol (55%), 95-99% agreed that it is important that clubs ensure alcohol is served responsibly and that doing so is a responsibility of the club, and 75% believed that their club could benefit from assistance to encourage responsible alcohol consumption (Chapter 3). ; Following an organisational change intervention, 88% of community sports clubs in the intervention group reported implementing ‘13 or more’ of 16 responsible alcohol management practices, compared with 65% of control group clubs (OR: 3.7, 95%CI: 1.1-13.2; p=0.04) (Chapter 5). ; Following an alcohol management intervention, members of community sports clubs from the intervention group reported significantly lower proportions of: risky alcohol consumption at the club (Intervention: 19%; Control: 24%; OR: 0.63, 95%CI 0.40-1.00; p=0.05); risk of alcohol-related harm (Intervention: 38%; Control: 45%; OR: 0.58, 95%CI 0.38-0.87; p<0.01); alcohol consumption risk (Intervention: 47%; Control: 55%; OR: 0.60, 95%CI 0.41-0.87; p<0.01) and possible alcohol dependence (Intervention: 1%; Control: 4%; OR: 0.20, 95% CI 0.06-0.65; p<0.01) compared to members of control group clubs (Chapter 6). ; A systematic review found only three controlled trials within any sports setting (non-elite/community to elite/professional level) that assessed the effects of interventions to reduce risky alcohol consumption and harm amongst sportspeople and fans. The included studies, which were from the United States, Ireland and Australia, included community and elite level sporting populations and interventions of varied content and intensity. Two of the studies reported positive intervention effects (Chapter 8). Conclusion and discussion: The findings of this thesis support the findings of earlier non-controlled studies and provide the first randomised controlled trial evidence showing that interventions with community sports clubs can improve alcohol management practices and reduce risky alcohol consumption and alcohol-related harm amongst club members. Such interventions were also found to be acceptable to sports club management. However, as found in the subsequent systematic review, the generalisability of these findings to other countries, other sports and other levels of professionalism is unknown. A potential opportunity exists for increasing the effectiveness of the intervention in reducing risky alcohol consumption and related harm through addressing alcohol industry sponsorship of sports clubs. Similarly, a need exists to investigate mechanisms for supporting sports clubs to sustain the implementation of alcohol management practices over time.
- Subject
- alcohol; sport; randomised controlled trial
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1314514
- Identifier
- uon:22776
- Rights
- Copyright 2016 Melanie Kingsland
- Language
- eng
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