Tackling drink problems
UNDERSTANDING cultural norms and building trust with community leaders could help address alcohol abuse among south Asians, researchers have stressed.
Their suggestions are included in new guidance for alcohol support projects focusing on minority ethnic groups, especially the Punjabi community.
Developed by the charity Aquarius along with researchers from Manchester Metropolitan University and the University of Birmingham, the recommendations have been based on analysis by the Shanti Project. It is an alcohol service initiative targeting Punjabis in the West Midlands.
The new guide includes frameworks for supporting people with alcohol problems from other communities as well.
Lead author Sarah Galvani, professor of social research and substance use at Manchester Metropolitan University, said, “Far more attention is needed to support our diverse communities and to determine the most effective ways of supporting people, and their families. As one community member told me, there is a habit of parachuting in ‘white’ services and expecting that to work.”
Co-author Dr Surinder Guru, a senior lecturer at the University of Birmingham, said remedial approaches should be community-specific, as patterns of alcohol use were diverse. For instance, he noted, drinking within the Punjabi community was “very gendered”.
“Heavy drinking by men is common practice, but women’s drinking is frowned upon,” he said. “This creates tensions in families and women can suffer rejection and shame within the community and family. The original research ... showed young Punjabis notice this unequal treatment of men and women and see it as unfair.
“We need to give attention to women’s drinking and the impact of men’s drinking on women and children among Punjabis.”
Aquarius ran the Shanti Project between 2016 and 2019 after “concern for the number of middle-aged Punjabi men presenting to A&E with serious alcoholrelated liver conditions”.
Richard McVey, Aquarius’s head of service, said: “It is really important that all alcohol and drug services listen to the particular needs of our diverse communities. We must avoid a ‘one size fits all’ approach.”