Alcohol Policy Interventions in Scotland and England: APISE

鉴于人们越来越关注酒精滥用及其危害，苏格兰和英格兰正在考虑采取新的干预措施来控制酒精使用。苏格兰的SNP政府计划推出最低定价法案，而在英格兰，一项新的酒精战略正在进行中。一些证据表明，具体的酒精政策干预措施的有效性，但在已知的这些干预措施的有效性方面存在许多缺陷。特别是，目前还不清楚政策是否对人口中的不同群体有不同的作用（例如，男子对妇女）。理想情况下，需要进行长期研究，并在第一年收集强有力的基线数据，以便将随后许多年的数据与苏格兰和英格兰的政策变化进行比较和分析。鉴于苏格兰和英格兰在酒精政策方面存在差异，苏格兰民族党政府正计划实施最低单位价格，因此存在一个自然的实验机会，可以比较政策实施前后苏格兰和英格兰成年饮酒者的饮酒行为。这项拟议的研究将进行头两年的研究，并视未来资金的可用性而定，将有可能进行长期监测。这将使一个系统，使未来的政策可以进行评估，因为和当他们发生。本研究的目的是确定是否以及如何一系列的酒精政策干预影响酒精的使用。第一次调查将于2012年进行，一年后的2013年将对同样的人进行后续调查。在研究开始时，将对苏格兰的2000名成年饮酒者（16-65岁）和英格兰的2000名成年饮酒者进行电话采访。这些人将在12个月后再次接受采访，以检查他们对饮酒的知识，态度和行为是否以及如何改变。通过将一个国家引入新政策与另一个国家政策保持不变进行比较，我们可以开始评估政策变化可能导致的变化。重要的是，我们不仅要研究饮酒行为，还要研究成年饮酒者如何通过检查与政策关系最密切的措施来应对不同的政策干预。例如，如果引入最低单位价格政策，我们会询问人们对酒精的负担能力，如果政策涉及饮料的单位标签，我们会询问注意和注意标签。通过这种方式，我们可以更好地了解各项政策是否以及如何发挥作用，以及在政策实施后对酒精负担能力的看法如何变化。此外，如果有的话，这些如何与饮酒行为的变化联系起来。有两个国家有不同的酒精政策，一个国家在第一次和第二次调查之间引入酒精政策的可能性增加了我们确定酒精政策是否以及如何运作的机会。这项研究将提供有关成年饮酒者对酒精政策干预的反应方式的宝贵信息，并将有助于围绕英国未来国家酒精战略审查的辩论和咨询过程。此外，我们正在与新西兰，澳大利亚，美国，泰国和韩国的同事合作，他们计划在他们的国家进行类似的研究。这将为查明变化提供更多机会，因为所涉国家范围更广，政策执行方面出现差异的机会也更多。这项研究的结果将提供数据，以帮助在未来制定国际酒精政策指南，并有助于国家和国际努力减少酒精相关的伤害。

Given growing concerns about alcohol misuse and its harms, new interventions to control alcohol use are being considered in both Scotland and England. The SNP Government in Scotland, plan to introduce a Minimum Pricing Bill while, in England, a new Alcohol Strategy is underway.Some evidence exists about the effectiveness of specific alcohol policy interventions but there are many shortcomings in what is known about how effective these interventions are. In particular, it is not clear whether policies work differently with different groups in the population (eg. Men v women). Ideally a long-term study is required with strong baseline data collected in the first year against which data from many subsequent years can be compared and analysed relative to policy changes in Scotland and England. Given that differences exist between Scotland and England in terms of alcohol policy and that the SNP Government in Scotland are planning to implement minimum unit pricing, a natural experiment opportunity exists to compare the drinking behaviours of adult drinkers in Scotland and England before and after policy implementation.This proposed research will conduct the first two years of such a study, and, subject to availability of future funding, will have the potential for longer term monitoring. This would enable a system to be set in place whereby future policies could be evaluated as and when they occur.The aim of this study is to establish whether and how a range of alcohol policy interventions impact on alcohol use. The first survey will be conducted in 2012 and a follow-up survey, with the same people, will take place one year later in 2013. Telephone interviews will be conducted with 2000 adult drinkers (aged 16-65) in Scotland and 2000 in England at the beginning of the study. These same people will be interviewed again 12 months later to examine whether and how their knowledge, attitudes and behaviour about drinking change. By comparing a country which does introduce a new policy with another, where policies remain unchanged, we can begin to assess the changes which may result from policy changes. Importantly we will look, not only at drinking behaviour, but also at how adult drinkers respond to different policy interventions by examining measures which are most strongly related to the policy. For example, if a minimum unit pricing policy was introduced we would ask people about the affordability of alcohol, if the policy was concerned with unit labelling on drinks we would ask about noticing and paying attention to the labels. In this way we can gain a better understanding of whether and how individual policies are working and how for example perceptions of affordability of alcohol change after a policy is implemented. Furthermore, how, if at all, these link with changes in drinking behaviour. Having two countries with different alcohol policies and the likelihood of one country introducing alcohol policy between the first and second surveys improves our opportunities for establishing whether and how alcohol policies work. The study will provide valuable information on the way that adult drinkers respond to alcohol policy interventions and will contribute to the debate and consultation processes around future reviews of national alcohol strategies in the UK.Furthermore, we are collaborating with colleagues in New Zealand, Australia, the USA, Thailand and South Korea who are planning to conduct similar studies in their countries. This would provide further opportunities for identifying changes, given the broader range of countries involved and increased opportunities for differences in policy implementation. The findings from this study will provide data to help inform the development of international guidelines on alcohol policy in the future and contribute to national and international efforts to reduce alcohol related harm.