Good practice principles low rik drinking EU RARHA

Restricting hours of sale and density of alcohol outlets
• Limited opening hours for sales points
• Prohibition of selling alcohol after a certain hour
• Alcohol retail monopoly
Managing the drinking environment
• Increasing controls and ID checks at events and locations where alcohol is sold
• Penalties for shops selling alcohol to young people under the legal age
• Automatic warnings at checkout in supermarkets
• Awareness raising and training for sales staff concerning rules on alcohol purchasing
• Mystery shopping
• Prohibition of selling alcohol to intoxicated people
• Community-based prevention
Measures and Good Practices
Besides regulatory and structural measures such as those highlighted above, two lines of action were
given specific attention in the surveys: early identification and brief interventions targeted to young
people and integrated alcohol policies at the local level. For both, examples of good practices were
identified with help from European experts.
Brief intervention
The purpose of early identification and brief intervention is to assess if a person consumes alcohol on a
risky level, to intervene if that is the case and to monitor for improvement. (For further discussion, see
Chapter 5.) Various tools can be used for screening and identifying individuals with risky alcohol
consumption. Most studies evaluating identification tools and brief interventions with young people
have been taken place in schools, emergency services and on college campuses. Early identification and
brief intervention are potentially powerful in primary care because professionals in this setting see a
high number of patients and mostly know them for a long time.[ 12 ] Screening for risky alcohol
consumption in primary care can provide an opportunity to educate and raise awareness about alcoholrelated
harm and how to reduce it, and to take preventative measures which have been proven to be
effective in reducing alcohol-related risks. e
In the information gathering survey, early identification approaches with young people were
reported for 16 countries. In most cases the AUDIT test (Alcohol Disorder Identification Test)[ 13 ] or a
variant was used for screening. Other tools mentioned were the CRAFFT test [ 14 ] in the Czech Republic,
the CAGE questionnaire [ 15 ] in the UK and Croatia, the SEM-J screening instrument [ 16 ] in Belgium and
the online self-evaluation tool “Kenn dein Limit” f in Germany.
Overall, not many brief intervention approaches developed specifically for young people were
mentioned. Based on the information gathered, especially school and primary care settings seem to
carry the best potential for successful interventions.
• In Germany, the project HaLT, a brief intervention for young people brought to hospital due to
alcohol intoxication has been established and found effective.[ 17 ] The HaLT programme also
targets parents and other responsible persons like sales staff, teachers, members of
associations and event promoters. g
• “Fred goes to school” is a programme used in Cyprus for early intervention and prevention of
smoking and alcohol abuse by students aged from 12 to 15 years. The programme follows the
model of “FreD goes net”, adapted to the Cyprus school setting based on the German pilot
project "FreD - Early Intervention for Young Drug Users". h
e
WHO: Screening and brief intervention for alcohol problems in primary health care.
http://www.who.int/substance_abuse/activities/sbi/en/
f
“Kenn dein Limit” youth campaign - http://www.kenn-dein-limit.info/
g
“Hart am Limit” programme - http://www.aaaprevent.eu/strategies/countries/germany/halt-hart-am-limitalcohol-prevention-for-children-and-adolescentsh
“FreD goes net” programme - http://www.euronetprev.org/projects/fred-goes-net/
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Good practice principles for low risk drinking guidelines