Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-l7hp2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T07:42:52.916Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Alcoholics Known or Unknown to Agencies: Epidemiological Studies in a London Suburb

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Griffith Edwards
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychiatry Addiction Research Unit, 101 Denmark Hill, London, S.E.5
Ann Hawker
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychiatry Addiction Research Unit, 101 Denmark Hill, London, S.E.5
Celia Hensman
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychiatry Addiction Research Unit, 101 Denmark Hill, London, S.E.5
Julian Peto
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychiatry Addiction Research Unit, 101 Denmark Hill, London, S.E.5
Valerie Williamson
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychiatry Addiction Research Unit, 101 Denmark Hill, London, S.E.5

Extract

We present here some findings from a survey carried out in one (former) London borough, of the information known to one or more of a number of agencies such as courts, clergy, employers, doctors, etc. (we term these sources ‘reporting agencies', see Methodology Section 4), concerning those individuals who might have a drinking problem. The results will be interpreted in the light of a house-to-house sample survey which was conducted at the same time, and in part of that same area (Edwards et al., 1972a, b, c, d, 1973): the extent of overlap in case identification will be closely considered. The literature on epidemiology applied to alcoholism has been reviewed by one of us elsewhere (Edwards, 1973), and the relevance of epidemiology to planning the community's response to its drinking problems was discussed. In the present paper the application of those general arguments to the realities of a particular set of data will be tentatively explored.

Type
Papers
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1973

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Edwards, G. (1970). ‘The status of alcoholism as a disease’, in Modern Trends in Drug Dependence and Alcoholism (ed. Phillipson, R. V.). London: Butterworths.Google Scholar
Edwards, G. (1973). ‘Epidemiology applied to alcoholism. A review and an examination of purposes.Quart. J. Stud. Alc., 34, 2856.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Edwards, G., Chandler, J., and Hensman, C. (1972a). ‘Correlates of normal drinking in a London suburb.Quart. J. Stud. Alc., Suppl. No. 6, 5993.Google Scholar
Edwards, G., Chandler, J., and Hensman, C. and Peto, J. (1972b). ‘Drinking in a London suburb. Correlates of trouble with drinking among men.Quart. J. Stud. Alc., Suppl. No. 6, 94119.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Edwards, G., Hensman, C., and Peto, J. (1972c). ‘Differences between male and female reports of drinking problems in a London suburb.Quart. J. Stud. Alc., Suppl. No. 6, 120–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Edwards, G., Hensman, C., Chandler, J., and Peto, J. (1972d). ‘Motivation for drinking among men in a London suburb.Psychol. Med., 2, 260–71CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Edwards, G., Hensman, C., and Peto, J. (1973). ‘A comparison of female and male motivation for drinking.Inst. J. Stud. Addict., 8, 3.Google ScholarPubMed
Edwards, G., Williamson, V., Hawker, A., Hensman, C., and Postoyan, S. (1968). ‘Census of a reception centre.Brit. J. Psychiat., 114, 1031–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Evans, M., Fine, E. W., and Powell-Phillips, W. (1966). ‘Community care for alcoholics and their families.Brit. med. J., 1, 1531–2.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gath, D., Hensman, C., Hawker, A., Kelly, M., and Edwards, G. (1968). ‘The drunk in court: a survey of drunkenness offenders from two London Courts.Brit. med. J., 4, 808–11.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Glatt, M. M. (1972). Introduction to Alcohol and Drug Dependence—Treatment and Rehabilitation by James, W. P., Salter, C. E. and Thomas, H. G. London: King Edward's Hospital FundGoogle Scholar
Greater London Council Research and Intelligence Unit (1966). Personal communication.Google Scholar
Hensman, C. (1972). ‘Alcoholism, the size of the problem.Update, 4, 625–30 (part 1) and 4, 903–8 (part 2).Google Scholar
James, W. P., Salter, C. E., and Thomas, H. G. (1972). Alcohol and Drug Dependence—Treatment and Rehabilitation. London: King Edward's Hospital Fund.Google Scholar
Keller, M., and Efron, V. (1956). ‘Alcoholism in the big cities of the United States.Quart. J. Stud. Alc., 17, 6372.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mellor, C. S. (1967). ‘The epidemiology of alcoholism.Hospital Medicine, pp. 284–94.Google Scholar
Morris, J. N. (1957). Uses of Epidemiology. Edinburgh: Livingstone.Google Scholar
Moss, M. C., and Davies, E. B. (1967). A Survey of Alcoholism in an English County. London: Geigy Scientific Publications.Google Scholar
Popham, R. E. (1970). ‘Indirect methods of alcoholism prevalence estimation. A critical evaluation’, in Alcohol and Alcoholism, pp. 294306 (ed. Popham, R. E.). Toronto: University of Toronto PressGoogle Scholar
Robinson, D. (1972). ‘The alcohologist's addiction: Some implications of having lost control over the disease concept of alcoholism.Quart. J. Stud. Alc. (in press).Google Scholar
Wilkins, R. H. (1972). M.D. Thesis, Manchester.Google Scholar
World Health Organization (1951). Expert Committee on Mental Health. Report of the First Session of the Alcoholism Sub-Committee. W.H.O. Technical Report Series, 42. Geneva: W.H.OGoogle Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.