Lifetime use of professional and community services for help with drinking: results from a Canadian population survey

To determine the lifetime prevalence of help seeking for alcohol problems among Canadian drinkers; to explore the influence on help seeking of age, gender, education, marital status and the number of life areas where alcohol was felt to have caused harm; and to consider any similarities and differences in the rate of help seeking in Canada and in the U.S.

Analyses of data from a survey of 12,155 Canadian adults (response rate 75.6%) conducted in 1994. Use of logistic regression to examine the influence on help seeking of demographic characteristics and perceptions of alcohol-related harm.

Two percent (2%) of lifetime drinkers reported seeking help at some time. Help from AA or from addictions agencies was reported by 1.3% and 0.3%, respectively. Logistic regression showed that help seeking was more common among those aged 40-49 years than those in other age groups, and less common among those with no post-secondary education and those who were married. The best predictor of help seeking was the number of life areas where alcohol was felt to have caused harm. Controlling for this variable, the influence of gender on help seeking was negligible. The rate of help seeking was similar to that in the U.S. 15 years earlier but lower than the U.S. rate in 1990.

More effort may be required to encourage Canadians with alcohol problems to seek help. Gender does not appear to influence the chances of seeking some form of help when perceptions of harm are controlled. More research is needed to determine why proportionally fewer Canadian than American drinkers report seeking help for alcohol problems.