‘Everything causes cancer’: how Australians respond to the message that alcohol causes cancer

Abstract

Over 5000 Australians are diagnosed with alcohol-related cancers annually, with growing evidence that low-levels of chronic alcohol consumption significantly increases cancer risk. Public knowledge of the link between alcohol and cancer is limited and, therefore, alcohol consumers may be inadvertently putting themselves at increased risk of developing cancer. Informing the community of alcohol-related cancer risk is important to reduce the burden of disease, however, the message that alcohol causes cancer may challenge current understanding of the risks and benefits associated with alcohol consumption. We examine how Australian adults who self-identify as light-to-moderate alcohol consumers, respond to the message that alcohol causes cancer. Seven focus groups with males and females aged between 18 and 65 years of age were audio–visually recorded, with transcripts thematically analysed within a social constructionist epistemology informed by critical realism. Cancer was represented as an inevitable part of life and something over which participants had no control: consequently, altering alcohol consumption to reduce cancer risk was not justifiable. Participants worked to present themselves as ‘normal’ consumers of alcohol by recounting personal experiences and depicting an obligation to uphold societal expectations to consume alcohol. Through the construction of cancer as an inescapable disease, and their own alcohol consumption as unproblematic and socially sanctioned, participants were able to resist the message that alcohol causes cancer, and any implied need to alter personal alcohol consumption to reduce the risk of cancer.