Articles by Katie Mackintosh
Alcohol © by William Christiansen
Measures to address alcohol misuse, such as minimum pricing, may fall short if negative social attitudes towards alcoholism aren’t also tackled, a Glasgow academic has warned.
Dr Laura Williamson, a Wellcome Trust Research Fellow at Glasgow Caledonian University’s Institute for Applied Health Research, argues that a radical transformation in attitudes is required, as she calls for alcohol dependence to be destigmatised and for everyone in society to accept greater responsibility for those who are addicted to alcohol.
“Dependence is influenced by many factors – the social acceptability of drinking, poverty, gender, stress and the acceptability of entering treatment. These are the big issues, cheap alcohol is only part of the problem, and they cannot be addressed by focusing on the ‘responsibility’ of individual drinkers. Dependent drinking is a social, not an individual problem,” she said.
“We’ve all seen the problem drinkers in our communities and we all have responsibility for them to varying degrees, whether it is the shopkeeper selling drink to an alcoholic early in the morning, the bartender continuing to serve someone who is obviously drunk, the neighbour who ignores someone who obviously has a chronic problem, or the family that inadvertently encourages someone to drink or cultivates a home environment that makes it hard for them not to because of excessive stress or the availability of alcohol.”
In her article, ‘Destigmatizing Alcohol Dependence: The Requirement for an Ethical (Not Only Medical) Remedy,’ which has been published today in the American Jo...
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First Minister Alex Salmond has outlined how Scotland would make best use of its “unparalleled energy resources” under independence. Speaking to an audience of academics, students and members of the public at the London School of Economics last night, the First Minister said that in the first twenty years of an independent Scotland an energy fund could generate almost £30bn. The speech was the third in a series given by the First Minister south of the border over the last month and came ahead of today’s meeting with Prime Minister David Cameron in Edinburgh. Salmond told the audience: “Under independence we would make the best use of our unparalleled energy resources. We have 25 per cent of Europe’s tidal power potential, 25 per cent of its offshore wind potential and [...]
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Equipping people with the skills and confidence to save a life Colin has been a community first responder in Penicuik for the past three years. He heard about the volunteering scheme when he was 16, but had to wait patiently until his 18th birthday before he was eligible to join. It was worth the wait, however, as he says he values the opportunity to give something back to his local community. “At first I was really nervous because it is one of those things where you are always staring at the on-call phone wondering when it is going to go. And unfortunately my first call had to be the worst-case scenario – a cardiac arrest.” Despite his nerves, he says he focused on what he’d learned during his training, put [...]
Are we training enough nurses? Last month, the Scottish Government announced plans to cut next year’s nursing and midwifery student intake by ten per cent. This cut – 2430 students compared with 2700 last year – comes on the heels of a 12 per cent cut this year, which according to the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) Scotland means the total intake numbers will be at their lowest for 15 years. Ellen Hudson, RCN Scotland associate director, says it is “staggering” that these cuts come at a time when demand for services is growing. “We know this is at a time when the demand for health services is increasing. We have an ageing population with increasingly complex needs who will need expert care whether they are in hospital, home or [...]
