Government Policies in Reducing Binge Drinking - Assignment Example

Name Course Institution Instructor Date Research Question/Research Statement How effective are government policies in reducing binge drinking and alcoholism among adults aged 45 to 65 years in England? Binge drinking is currently growing to be a major problem in many countries. As a result, most countries have put in place policies to curb this problem. This research question has been chosen to assess the effectiveness of government policies in curbing the menace of binge drinking among the adults aged between 45 and 65 years in England. To clearly bring out the extent of this problem, current statistical findings will be assessed and any information given in this report will be backed up by these statistical findings. Books, journals and relevant websites will be used to get information for this project. It therefore makes it a secondary research. Introduction This research will seek to address a number of key areas. For example, it will begin by assessing the extent of the problem of binge drinking among the adults aged between 45 and 65 year England. In this case, statistical finding of past research studies that were conducted in England will be assessed. It will also briefly discuss how this habit has impacted on both the individuals and the government. The major point of focus for this project is the assessment of government policies that have been put in place to reduce binge drinking. In this regard, various policies that have been put in place by the U.K. government to reduce binge drinking will be stated. In addition to this, they will be assessed for their effectiveness and some recommendations that can help reduce binge drinking will be given. Evidence and statistics will be used throughout this report to back up information. Background and Rationale for the Study A recent report by the department of health in England revealed that the government spent an estimated amount 3.5 billion pounds every year on the treatment of alcohol related illnesses (Office for National Statistics, 2012). Consequently the study showed that health centers treated 8% of alcohol related diseases in 2012 alone. Alcohol abuse is associated with up to 40 health related complications, including cancer, liver disease, kidney failure and hypertension. A similar report by House of Commons Health Committee indicated there were over one million crimes related to binge drinking and over 1.2 million cases of hospital admissions that were recorded between 2011 and 2012 (House of Commons Health Committee, 2012; Strategy Unit, 2004). The same report indicated that binge drinking harms resulted to the society paying an estimated amount of 21 billion pounds. The dangers of binge drinking continue to rise in England compared to other U.K. regions. This high level of alcohol abuse is higher than what it used to be 50 years ago. Findings from research studies that have been conducted concurrently by the Health & Social Care Information Centre indicated that alcohol abuse rates have been increasing significantly in the past few years. For example, between 2010 and 2012, there were 198, 900 hospital admissions in England resulting from binge drinking which was 2.1% higher than what was recorded between 2009 and 2010 (Health & Social Care Information Centre, 2012). The same results conducted on hospital admissions were replicated in another study that was conducted by Lifestyle Statistics & Social Care Information Centre (2013) that indicated a 1% increase in alcohol related hospital admissions in 2011/2012 from 2010/2011. This clearly indicates the extent of problem of alcohol abuse in England. Besides having the bearing direct effects, binge drinking can also have indirect effects. For example, children whose parents are engaging in alcohol abuse are being affected both financially and morally. A report for a study that was done by Manning et al., (2009) showed that an estimated 2.6 million children in England were being raised up by hazardous drinking parents. These children living with parents who are engaging in binge drinking are exposed to problems ranging from moral degradation to lack of basic needs. The study by the department of health showed that the inconsistence nature of alcohol consumption based on socio economic and economic activities of individuals also marked a significant difference in the age bracket and income. Men and women between the ages of 16-64 occupying professional households are likely to indulge in high alcohol abuse as compared to those in non-manual household. This is also the case when looking at the economic patterns, whereby most employed individuals will take part in binge drinking in comparison to those who are unemployed. Statistical findings have shown that older people tend to engage in binge drinking in England. Notably, these rates have been increasing every year. In fact according to a study by the Office for National Statistics (2013), only 1% of those who engaged in binge drinking the previous week are aged between 16 and 24, 4% of them are aged between 25 and 44, 9% of them were aged between 45 and 64 and 13% of them were above 65 years. It is quite clear that the highest percentage of those who engaged in binge drinking were aged 45 and above. The rationale behind choosing to focus on binge drinking adults aged between 45 and 65 years is due to the fact that a good number of past research studies have shown it to be the age group where most people engage in binge drinking. In addition to this, findings have shown that rates continue to increase every year despite the government's efforts. This research is quite significant for any person looking to work in the health department or social welfare. There is a significant increase in health complications associated with alcohol abuse and many individuals are also loosing track of their lives due to alcohol abuse. Aims and objectives The research aims at evaluating the prevalence of binge drinking among adults aged between 45 and 65 years in England and the effectiveness of current policies that have been put in place in a bid to curb binge drinking. The aim is to find out how binge drinking affects their lifestyle and health. Objectives: There are four main objectives that this project seeks to achieve. These objectives are as follows: To investigate the prevalence of binge drinking among adults aged between 45 and 65 years in England. To examine the effects of binge drinking to adults aged between 45 and 65 years. To identify government policies and legislations aimed to preventing binge drinking in England and to critically analyse their effectiveness To investigate the effectiveness of these policies and how they have been implemented. Exclusion and Inclusion This research is facilitated by the analysis of secondary data . A number of resources will therefore be used in order to come up with a comprehensive research. These resources will be sourced from places such as the Google database; Google books and Google scholar, online libraries databases such as EBSCOhost and Emerald, and relevant websites such as that of U.K department of health. To get relevant literature to support this research, key words such as 'binge drinking', 'binge drinking in England', effects of binge drinking on an individual and society', and 'binge drinking statistics in England' will be used when searching for these resources. search for resources will be restricted to those materials published after 2004. This will ensure that this research reflects the reality of binge drinking in England. Additionally, information from sites such as Wikipedia and Yahoo answers will be avoided. This is due to the fact that they allow for user editing and thus representing opinions of different persons drawn from individual perception. They are normally not recommended for research information. Ethical considerations Being a secondary research, ethicality issues will be observed. The principle of informed consent is a common and crucial aspect for any research. This involves getting permission from relevant persons or organizations to use their data. Special consent is necessary in medical research, research with children and young adults, internet research, research within organizations and research with disabilities (UK Data Archives, 2009). In this context, permission will be sought from bodies such as the National Records of England, World Health Organization, department of health in England and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. Project Outline 1.0 Chapter 1 1.1 Introduction 1.2 Background of the research 1.2.1 Rationale of the study 1.2.2 Ethical Considerations 2.0 Chapter 2: Literature Review 2.1 Definition of key concepts 2.2 Alcoholism in a Global perspective 2.3 Effects of binge drinking 2.3.1 Individual effects 2.3.2 Social effects 3.0 Chapter 3: Binge Drinking and Alcoholism in England 3.1 Extent of binge drinking and alcoholism in England 3.2 Effects of binge drinking among the English adults 3.2.1 Individual effects 3.2.2 Social effects 3.3 Government interventions 3.3.1 The Licensing Act 2003 3.3.2 Alcohol harm reduction strategy 3.3.3 Price-based alcohol policies 3.4 Effectiveness of price-based policies 4.0 Chapter 4: Conclusions, Recommendations and Reflection 4.1 Conclusion 4.2 Recommendations 4.3 Reflection Project Timetable This research will be conducted for a period of 5 months starting from the 10th December 2014 until the 04th May 2015. Actions Period A research question will be chosen. Literature will be read and journals, books and statistics will be looked at, aims and objectives will be chosen and a research proposal will be written. 1st–10th December 2014 The research proposal will be submitted 11th December 2014 Ethical issues will be looked at. It involves visiting University of Essex, Department of health in England and Centre for Drug Misuse Research 12th December 2014 – 26th December 2014 Search for peer reviewed articles from University of Essex. 27th December- 02nd January 2015 Search for sources of information from the department of health and centre for Drug Misuse and Research, and other relevant sources of information 03rd- 18th January 2015 Read through different sources and consider biasness and address 19th January-06th February 2015 Writing of the project 07th February- 07th April 2015 Writing a reflection 08th April- 30th April 2015 Proofreading 1st-3rd May 2015 Final project will be submitted. 4th May 2015 References Harker, R. (2012). Alcohol Statistics-Commons Library Standard Note. Alcoholism, Health Education and Preventive Medicine. Retrieved from Health & Social Care Information Centre. (2012). Statistics on Alcohol: England, 2012. Retrieved from House of Commons Health Committee. (2012). Government's Alcohol Strategy: Third Report of Session 2012-13. Retrieved from Lifestyle Statistics & Social Care Information Centre. (2013). Statistics on Alcohol: England, 2013. Health and Social Care Information Centre. Manning, V., Best, D. W., Faulkner, N., & Titherington, E. (2009). New estimates of the number of children living with substance misusing parents: results from UK national household surveys. BMC Public Health, 9: 377. Office for National Statistics. (2012). Drinking Habits Amongst Adults, 2012. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved from < http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/dcp171778_338863.pdf> Office for National Statistics. (2013). Alcohol-related deaths in the United Kingdom, 2011. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved from Strategy Unit. (2004). Alcohol Harm Reduction Strategy for England. Retrieved from UK Data Archives. (2009). Managing and Sharing. Data: a best practice guide for researchers. Retrieved from Read More