Hostname: page-component-cb9f654ff-5kfdg Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-08-20T17:27:55.921Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Intake of and attitudes to alcohol and alcoholism

A questionnaire survey among future doctors

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

John J. Sharkey  and
Diana Patterson
John J. Sharkey*
Affiliation:
Knockbracken Healthcare Park, Saintfield Road, Belfast BT8 8BH
Diana Patterson
Affiliation:
Shaftesbury Square Hospital, 116–120 Great Victoria Street, Belfast BT2 7BW
*
∗Correspondence
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

We examined the extent of alcohol misuse among final year medical students and explored their attitudes to their drinking and the drinking of others in order to gain insight into why junior doctors frequently fail to identify alcohol misusers. The questionnaire included AUDIT (Alcohol Use Disorders Investigation Test), personal details and an attitudinal component. Response rate was 92%. Forty-six students (37.8%) scored as alcohol misusers. Teetotallers had a more judgmental attitude towards ‘alcoholism’. Extremes of drinking behaviour among students may affect later patient care.

Information

Type
Original Papers
Information
Psychiatric Bulletin , Volume 21 , Issue 1 , January 1997 , pp. 16 - 18
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
Copyright © 1997 The Royal College of Psychiatrists

References

Adshead, F. & Clare, A. (1986) Doctors' double standards on alcohol. British Medical Journal 293, 1590–1591.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Barker, M. E., McLean, S. I., McKenna, P. G., et al (1988) Diet Lifestyle and Health in Northern Ireland. A Report to the Health Promotion Research Trust University of Ulster: Centre for Applied Health Studies.Google Scholar
Barrison, I., Viola, L. & Lyon, I. M. (1980) Do housemen take an adequate drinking history? British Medical Journal 281, 1040.Google Scholar
Bell, J., The, E., Patel, A., et al (1988) Detection of at risk drinking in a teaching hospital. Medical Journal of Australia, 149, 351–355.Google Scholar
Blaney, R. & Mackenzie, G. (1978) A Northern Ireland Community Health Study: Report to the Department of Health and Social Services. Queen's University Belfast: Department of Community Medicine.Google Scholar
Collier, D. J. & Beales, I. L. P. (1989) Drinking among medical students: a questionnaire study. British Medical Journal 298, 19–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Firth, J. (1986) Levels and sources of stress in medical students. British Medical Journal 292, 1177–1180.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mangan, B. G. & Patterson, D. G. (1994) The prevalence of alcohol dependence syndrome in a rural general hospital in Northern Ireland. Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine, 11, 73–75.Google Scholar
Saunders, J. B., Aasland, O. G., Babor, T. F., et al (1993) Development of the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT): WHO Collaborative Project on early detection of persons with harmful alcohol consumption-II. Addiction, 88, 791–804.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sweeney, K., Gillan, J. & Orr, J. (1990) Drinking Habits in Northern Ireland. Department of Health and Social Services for Northern Ireland 1987–1989. Northern Ireland: HMSO.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.