Awareness and beliefs about alcohol use among women in India

ABSTRACT

Understanding the beliefs and attitudes of the people in community towards drinking among women is important, as this is likely to affect social support and social integration of women recovering from alcohol use disorders (AUDs). The present study aimed to examine awareness and beliefs about alcohol use among women in India from women in the community. The sample comprised of 60 women drawn from an urban community of India using snowball sampling technique. All participants were over 18 years of age and were assessed using the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10), the Alcohol, Smoking and Substance Involvement Screening Test and a semi-structured interview schedule (SIS) developed for the study. The SIS assessed participants’ awareness about alcohol use among women, beliefs about risk and protective factors and the need for treatment among women with alcohol use problems. Findings indicated that women from the community stigmatized and stereotyped women with AUDs, but only to a mild degree. To a large extent, they were aware of alcohol use problems among women and the possible risk and protective factors associated with the same. These findings have significance for strengthening social support for recovery and rehabilitation of women with alcohol use problems in India.

KEYWORDS:

• Stigma
• social support
• women
• alcohol use disorders
• India

Acknowledgments

Authors thank Madhuri Krishna for help to improve an earlier version of this manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Informed consent

All procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000. Informed consent was obtained from all participants for being included in the study.

Notes on contributors

Kanika Malik has a doctorate in clinical psychology. She is currently working as Intervention coordinator (Team lead) in a project entitled PRIDE, that aims to develop a psychosocial intervention targeting common mental health disorders in school going adolescents.

Prabhat K. Chand is the Additional Professor at Centre for Addiction medicine, Department of Psychiatry, at the National Institute of Mental Health Neurosciences (NIMHANS). He is also Coordinator of ‘Virtual’ Knowledge Network NIMHANS Echo: A cost effective innovation and free interactive online skill building activity in the area of Addiction and Mental Health.

P. Marimuthu is the Additional Professor at Department of Biostatistics, NIMHANS. Currently he is mentoring doctoral and postgraduate students in biostatistics, clinical psychology, psychiatry and psychiatric social work.

L.N. Suman is the Head and Professor at Department of Clinical psychology, NIMHANS. She started the ‘Trauma Recovery Clinic’ at NIMHANS Centre for Well-Being in 2013. Currently, she is mentoring doctoral scholars in cognitive behavior therapy and family therapy for addictions and postgraduate students in research on psychological trauma.