Ethnic
groups need specialist services to tackle alcohol misuse
Ethnic minorities may have particular
problems with alcohol use, yet may not be seeking help, warns a
senior psychiatrist in this week’s BMJ. He believes that
these hidden populations need specific services – and more research.
In the United Kingdom, several
ethnic minorities have higher levels of alcohol use and resulting
health problems than the general population, writes Rahul Rao of the
South London and Maudsley NHS Trust.
For example, 34% of Irish
men drink above the weekly recommended limit of 21 units of
alcohol, compared with 29% of the general Irish population
and 27% of the general British population. A similar problem
exists in south Asian (Sikh) male migrants to the UK and
Hispanic men in the United States.
Both alcohol misuse and ethnicity
are bound to social disadvantage, says the author. Considerable
stigma also surrounds alcohol misuse in minority ethnic groups,
particularly for Asian communities in the UK, where people from an
older generation are unwilling to recognise alcohol misuse within
their communities.
As a result, people with alcohol
problems may try to cope on their own rather than use alcohol
services, or they may be unaware of alcohol services. In turn,
health providers may avoid developing services for ethnic
minorities.
Alcohol misuse cannot simply be
tackled using a broad population approach without culturally
appropriate services to meet the needs of minority ethnic groups, he
writes. This in turn cannot be achieved without a knowledge base
drawn from high quality research within specific populations.
Some progress has been made in
developing culturally appropriate services over the past 10 years.
But at present, such knowledge remains patchy, he concludes.
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