Abstract
Globally, alcohol harm is recognised as one of the greatest population risks and reducing alcohol harm is a key priority for the UK Government. The Communities in Charge of Alcohol (CICA) programme took an asset‐based approach in training community members across nine areas to become alcohol health champions (AHCs); trained in how to have informal conversations about alcohol and get involved with alcohol licensing. This paper reports on the experiences of AHCs taking part in the training through the analysis of: questionnaires completed pre‐ and post‐training (n = 93) and semi‐structured interviews with a purposive sample of five AHCs who had started their role. Questionnaires explored: characteristics of AHCs, perceived importance of community action around alcohol and health, and confidence in undertaking their role. Following training AHCs felt more confident to talk about alcohol harms, give brief advice and get involved in licensing decisions. Interviews explored: AHCs’ experiences of the training, barriers and facilitators to the adoption of their role, and how they made sense of their role. Four overarching themes were identified through thematic analysis taking a framework approach: (a) perceptions of AHC training; (b) applying knowledge and skills in the AHC role; (c) barriers and facilitators to undertaking the AHC role; and (d) sustaining the AHC role. Findings highlight the challenges in establishing AHC roles can be overcome by combining the motivation of volunteers with environmental assets in a community setting: the most important personal asset being the confidence to have conversations with people about a sensitive topic, such as alcohol.
Highlights
Alcohol harm is recognised as one of the greatest risks to the population and impacts on the health-related Sustainable Development Goals (World Health Organization, 2018)
The findings of this paper sit within the context of the wider evaluation of Communities in Charge of Alcohol (CICA) (Cook et al, 2018; Ure et al, 2021) which explored the experiences of a range of stakeholders, including Licensing Officers, local CICA coordinators, and alcohol health champions (AHCs)
Within the first 3 months of their new role, AHCs broadly had confidence that they could help community members raise concerns about harms related to alcohol licensing decisions
Summary
Alcohol harm is recognised as one of the greatest risks to the population and impacts on the health-related Sustainable Development Goals (World Health Organization, 2018). Individuals volunteer to improve the health and wellbeing of their communities and families following training. This is done through outreach, communication of health messages, and signposting to relevant support services, using their skills and influence to motivate and empower their communities (PHE, 2015; National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, 2016). Through CICA, alcohol health champions were trained in providing alcohol identification and brief advice (IBA) to reduce alcohol harm; and influencing the availability of alcohol in their communities through intervening in alcohol licencing. AUDIT-C was an identification tool used in CICA It comprises three questions regarding the consumption of alcohol and can be adapted for easy use in the form of, for example, a scratch card. Scratch cards were given to all AHC teams as resources to use when working in the community
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