Good practice principles low rik drinking EU RARHA

Graph 1. Uses of the Standard Drink concept in European countries. The graph is based on data
gathered by the ISS [ 3 ].
Number of countries
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
In advice (brief intervention)
provided by health care
professionals
In public education messages
On alcoholic beverage packages
to indicate the alcoholic content
To a large extent To some extent Not at all
People’s understanding of Standard Drinks
Findings from the RARHA survey carried out by the HSE indicated that public understanding of the
national Standard Drink definition had been evaluated in only five countries. In three countries,
understanding of the SD among alcohol consumers was deemed very good (with more than 60% of
survey respondents understanding the definition). In one country the understanding was neither good
nor bad while in another one it was rated as very poor (less than 30% understanding the definition).
Understanding among the general public was rated very good in two countries, neither good nor bad in
one country and very poor in one country.[ 4 ]
Findings from an online survey conducted by Eurocare in the framework of Joint Action RARHA
with 7950 respondents from 21 European countries indicated that half of the responents (49%) were
not familiar with the Standard Drink concept. e Those who said they were aware of the concept
provided an array of irregular descriptions. The definition provided by a Spanish respondent illustrates
the challenge: “una unidad, pero no sé cuánto es la medida exactamente”, that is, “one unit, but I am
not sure about the exact measure”.[ 6 ]
Several studies have examined drinkers’ knowledge of what a Standard Drink is. Recent findings
from Europe are summarized below:
• An Irish survey reported that 58% had heard of the standard drinks; 24% knew the number of
standard drinks in a 200 ml glass of wine, 51% were aware that a half pint of Guinness contains
one standard drink, 39% knew how many standard drinks are in a pint of lager and 33% knew
how many standard drinks are in a single measure of spirits.[ 21 ]
• An English survey found that 90% had heard of the term ‘unit’; 63% of beer drinkers knew that
one unit of beer is half a pint, 27% of wine drinkers correctly said that one unit is less than a
small glass of wine and 69% of spirits drinkers were aware that a single measure was one
unit.[ 22 ]
• In a Scottish study, approximately half of 1497 adults were able to correctly identify the
number of units in a pint of beer, measure of spirits or a glass of wine (47-51%). Public
awareness of unit content had changed little since 2007.[ 23 ]
Numerous studies have examined how the size of drinks actually poured by people corresponds to
Standard Drinks or units of alcohol. Findings from studies in European countries are summarized below:
• In the UK, 309 secondary school and 125 university students were asked to estimate the
alcohol unit content of three types of alcoholic drinks in different serving sizes. Knowledge of
units was poor. They were also asked to pour their usual drink. The usual drinks were
e
The number of respondents per country varied from less than one hundred to more than two thousand.
37
Good practice principles for low risk drinking guidelines