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Medical Reasons for Limiting Drinking: Data from a Sexual Health Clinic
Jennifer C Elliott1,2, Noga Shalev3, Deborah S Hasin1,2,4
1a New York State Psychiatric Institute , New York , New York , USA.
Insights
Individuals with HIV who reduce drinking often cite general health and liver concerns. A new 8-item scale effectively measures these medical motivations for limiting alcohol intake in sexual health clinics.
Area of Science:
- Public Health
- Clinical Psychology
- Addiction Medicine
Background:
- Heavy alcohol consumption presents significant health risks for individuals living with HIV.
- While some HIV-positive individuals attempt to reduce their drinking, the medical motivations behind these efforts are not well understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the medical reasons HIV-infected patients in a sexual health clinic limit their alcohol consumption.
- To explore the potential of operationalizing these reasons into a new research and clinical scale.
Main Methods:
- A sample of 70 patients from a sexual health clinic, who had attempted to limit drinking, completed a nine-item scale.
- Participants included individuals with self-reported HIV, males, and Black individuals.
- Exploratory factor analysis was used to assess the scale's psychometric properties.
Main Results:
- The most frequently cited reasons for limiting drinking were general health concerns and worries about alcohol's impact on the liver.
- A unidimensional, eight-item scale demonstrated good internal consistency (α=0.84).
- These findings remained consistent when the analysis was limited to only those with self-reported HIV.
Conclusions:
- Individuals in sexual health clinics commonly report non-specific health and liver-related concerns as reasons for reducing alcohol intake.
- An 8-item scale was developed to measure medical reasons for limiting drinking, applicable to sexual health clinics and HIV-positive populations.
- This scale can improve research on drinking reduction and aid discussions with HIV-infected heavy drinkers.
Background:
Heavy drinking poses health risks for individuals with HIV, and some individuals with HIV attempt to reduce drinking. Little is known about whether medical reasons motivate HIV-infected individuals to reduce drinking.
Objectives:
We evaluated medical reasons for limiting drinking among patients in a sexual health clinic, and explored whether these reasons could be operationalized as a new scale for research and clinical use in sexual health clinics.
Methods:
A sample of 70 patients in a sexual health clinic who reported efforts to limit drinking in the past month (84% with self-reported HIV; 81% male; 50% Black) completed a nine-item medical reasons for limiting drinking scale on a tablet while waiting for their appointment. Exploratory factor analysis was performed to evaluate psychometric properties of the scale.
Results:
Patients most commonly endorsed general concerns about health, and concerns about alcohol's effect on the liver. Support was found for a unidimensional (one-factor) eight-item scale, which evidenced good internal consistency (α = 0.84). Results were identical when analyses were restricted to the subset of 59 individuals who self-reported HIV infection. Conclusions/Importance: This study suggests that individuals in a sexual health clinic most commonly endorse broad nonspecific concerns about drinking and health, as well as concerns about their liver. This study yields an 8-item scale to measure medical reasons for limiting drinking in sexual health clinics and among individuals with HIV. This scale should enhance researchers' ability to study this important construct and may facilitate discussion of drinking reduction with HIV-infected heavy drinkers, requiring future study.
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