Cheers!: Understanding Alcohol Use Among Older Adults

1. Drinking Buddies, Happy Memories and Taking to the Bottle: Alcohol and Later Life Professor Marian Barnes and Dr Lizzie Ward, Social Science Policy and Research Centre

2. Initial scoping study Perceptions of practitioners • Estimated 10-15% of user base of older people had some problem with alcohol • Two distinct groups of drinkers • In general older people very private • Social isolation and drinking ‘behind closed doors’ • Older people unwilling to change • Ageism – the ‘invisibility’ of older people • Specific ‘triggers’ for older people’s drinking?

3. Main issues for practitioners • Difficulties in knowing how to approach the issue with older people • Inability of older people to acknowledge problem • Lack of appropriate services for referral • Problems related to accommodation • The issue of ‘rights’ – should we intervene?

4. The aims of ‘Cheers’ project • Begin to fill a gap in research into alcohol and older people • Emphasise the importance of older people as interpreters of their own lives • Place the experience of older people at the centre • Develop a team of older people who could work on subsequent projects • Develop and build good practice in this type of research

5. Findings - from focus groups What do older people think about alcohol generally • ‘it’s a new problem’ • Young women’s drinking • Anti-social behaviour • Social and cultural changes • Older people’s drinking

6. Drinking practices and styles • Social – Regular • Social – Occasional • Heavy lone drinking • Heavy drinking in a drinking network

7. Cross-cutting themes • Social relationships • Loss • Current and previous lifestyle • Financial impacts • Health well-being and growing older • Responsibility control and independence • Seeking help

8. Differences • Cultural differences • Gender • Sexuality

9. Brighton and Hove as a drinking place • Night-time economy • ‘Safe’ social and leisure spaces • Changing nature of pubs

10. Implications for policy and practice • Creating a context where older people can talk about their drinking • Maintaining social spaces • Active engagement • Low key facilitation • ‘Safe units’ – the role of GPs, health promotion and health professionals • Older people’s rights?

11. Ward, Barnes and Gahagan (2009) Cheers!? A project about older people and alcohol Full report and findings available to download at www.brighton.ac.uk/sass/research/publications