Journal
JOURNAL OF STUDIES ON ALCOHOL AND DRUGS
Volume 81, Issue 1, Pages 47-57Publisher
ALCOHOL RES DOCUMENTATION INC CENT ALCOHOL STUD RUTGERS UNIV
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Funding
- Canadian Partnership Against Cancer as part of the Coalitions Linking Action and Science for the Policy Opportunity Windows, Enhancing Research Uptake in Practice (POWER UP!) project [11293]
- Applied Public Health Chair from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research
- Public Health Agency of Canada
- Alberta Innovates -Health Solutions (2014-2019) [CPP 137909]
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Objective: Although alcohol consumption is considered a major modifiable risk factor for chronic disease, policies to reduce alcohol-related harm remain low on the Canadian policy agenda. The objective of this study was to understand support for population-level healthy public policies to reduce alcohol-related harm by assessing the attitudes of policy influencers and the public in two Canadian provinces, and by sociodemographic characteristics. Method: A stratified sample of the general public (n = 2,400) and a census sample of policy influencers (n = 302) in Alberta and Quebec participated in the 2016 Chronic Disease Prevention Survey, which included questions to assess support for alcohol-specific policies. Differences in levels of support were determined by calculating differences in the proportion of support for alcohol control policies, comparing groups by regional and sociodemographic characteristics. The modified Nuffield Council on Bioethics Intervention Ladder was used to assess support according to the level of individual intrusiveness. Results: We found that policy influencers and general public respondents were supportive of both information-based policies, with the exception of warning labels, and more restrictive policies targeting youth (e.g., enforcement). Both groups were less favorable to alcohol-specific policies that guided choice through disincentives (e.g., taxation). There were more differences in policy support by sociodemographic characteristics among the public. Conclusions: For health advocates to advance policies to reduce alcohol-related harms at the population level, they will need to mobilize additional support for more intrusive, yet more effective, policy interventions. Advocacy efforts should focus on communicating the effectiveness and positive outcomes of these interventions to help garner support.
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