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Identifying parents with risky alcohol consumption habits in a paediatric unit--are screening and brief intervention
Lene B L Bjerregaard1, Oke Gerke, Sune Rubak
1Institute of Clinical Research, Research Unit of Clinical Nursing, the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark. lbjerregaard@health.sdu.dk
Insights
This study identified risky alcohol behaviors in 11% of parents with hospitalized children. Men and older parents were more likely to screen positive, highlighting the need for targeted interventions for parental alcohol consumption.
Area of Science:
- Public Health
- Addiction Medicine
- Child Welfare
Background:
- Excessive parental alcohol use negatively impacts children's emotional, cognitive, social, and physical development.
- Identifying parents with excessive alcohol use is crucial, especially when a child is hospitalized.
- Addressing alcohol consumption in parents is sensitive and requires trained healthcare staff.
Purpose of the Study:
- To identify patterns in parental alcohol screening results based on demographic variables.
- To determine if staff demographics influence screening outcomes.
- To understand risk factors associated with parental alcohol consumption.
Main Methods:
- Screening and Brief Intervention (SBI) was conducted over one year.
- Healthcare staff used motivational interviewing (MI) and the CAGE-C (Cut down, Annoyance from others, feel Guilty, Early-morning Craving) screening tool.
- Data from 779 parents and 43 staff members were analyzed using descriptive statistics and significance testing (p<0.05).
Main Results:
- 11% of parents screened positive for risky alcohol behavior.
- Key risk factors included drinking alcohol 4+ days/week and outside mealtimes.
- Male gender (OR=6.8) and increasing age (OR=1.2) were significant predictors of positive screening.
Conclusions:
- Screening and brief interventions (SBI) effectively identify parental alcohol consumption patterns.
- Motivational interviewing (MI) and CAGE-C are successful tools for health promotion and prevention.
- Adequately trained and supervised healthcare staff can manage interventions for parental alcohol use.
Background:
There is no systematic identification of parents with excessive alcohol use who have a child admitted to hospital. Children in families with excessive alcohol issues form a high risk group as substantial alcohol consumption has a damaging influence on a child emotionally, cognitively, socially and physically. Alcohol consumption is a sensitive issue, and health staff needs knowledge, qualifications and adequate training in communicating with parents about this taboo.
Aim:
• To identify specific patterns in subgroups of parents by comparing results from screening and demographic variables • To identify systematic patterns in staff members by demographic variables to decide whether these factors influence the screening results.
Methods:
During 1 year, screening and brief intervention (SBI) was accomplished, including health staff conducting dialogues with parents of a hospitalized child using motivational interviewing (MI) and screening for risky alcohol behaviour by Cut down, Annoyance from others, feel Guilty, Early-morning Craving (CAGE)-C. Data were analysed by descriptive statistics, and relationships were tested with a statistical significance level of 0.05, using SPSS (version 16.0).
Results:
Motivational dialogues with 779 parents were conducted by 43 staff members, and 11% of the parents were screened positive for risky alcohol behaviour. Drinking alcohol 4 days a week or more and drinking alcohol outside mealtimes were main risk factors. Parents' gender was the strongest predictor of screening positive and OR was 6.8 for men (CI 4.03-11.74) compared to women, p<0.0001. An OR of 1.2 for parents' age (CI 1.02-1.42) indicates the risk of screening positive increases with age, p=0.027.
Conclusions:
Brief intervention using CAGE-C and MI has proven successful in mapping parents' alcohol consumption patterns and in identifying parents with risky alcohol consumption habits. Health staff is able to manage health promotion and prevention when having the right competences and when being supervised.
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