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This study aimed to identify patients' sub-groups through measures of socio-demographic variables, alcohol consumption and alcohol health literacy. Instruments were administered to a sample of 118 patients in Colombia. Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA) was used to identify subgroups of individuals with common characteristics. Two groups were identified: one of women with good knowledge about alcohol consequences, low acceptability of regular alcohol intake, lower levels of alcohol drinking, and less openness to discussing alcohol with health practitioners; and one of men with lower levels of knowledge, higher levels of cultural acceptability of drinking, higher levels of consumption, and more openness to discussing alcohol. Results indicate that the higher the risk of alcohol, the more openness to discussing alcohol with health practitioners.

During major long-term crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, news media are crucial sources of information for the public. This study aimed to explore the frequency of COVID-19-related news consumption based on (1) phase of the pandemic, (2) socio-demographic characteristics, and (3) news information channels. The study used a dynamic cohort design with 18 rounds of data collection, including 306,692 responses from 83,180 unique respondents in the Netherlands from 17 April 2020 to 11 September 2022. Results showed that the frequency of general COVID-19-related news media consumption varied throughout the pandemic, following a general decreasing trend with relative spikes often coinciding with periods of stricter behavioural regulations. TV news, newspapers, and online news websites were the most popular news information channels among the respondents. Furthermore, multilevel regression analyses identified several socio-demographic factors influencing news consumption and preferred channels, namely age, migration background, living status, health status, and trust in government — these results remained stable throughout the pandemic. This study highlights the importance of selecting appropriate news channels to effectively reach different socio-demographic groups and shows that during a prolonged crisis, news consumption about the crisis fluctuates with worsening conditions but generally follows a decreasing trend. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to identify patients ' sub-groups through measures of socio-demographic variables, alcohol consumption and alcohol health literacy. Instruments were administered to a sample of 118 patients in Colombia. Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA) was used to identify subgroups of individuals with common characteristics. Two groups were identified: one of women with good knowledge about alcohol consequences, low acceptability of regular alcohol intake, lower levels of alcohol drinking, and less openness to discussing alcohol with health practitioners; and one of men with lower levels of knowledge, higher levels of cultural acceptability of drinking, higher levels of consumption, and more openness to discussing alcohol. Results indicate that the higher the risk of alcohol, the more openness to discussing alcohol with health practitioners. Keywords: alcohol drinking, health literacy, primary health care, INTRODUCTION Alcohol consumption is a leading contributor to the global non-communicable disease burden (Lim et al., 2012; Whiteford et al., 2015), associated with adverse social and economic consequences that extend [...]

Brief alcohol advice offered to patients was shown to be a clinically- and cost-effective intervention to prevent and manage alcohol-related health harm. However, this intervention is not yet optimally implemented in practice. A suggested strategy to improve the implementation of brief alcohol advice is through community actions which would enhance the environment in which primary healthcare providers must deliver the intervention. However, there has been scarce research conducted to date regarding which community actions have most influence on the adoption and implementation of brief alcohol advice. The current protocol presents the development of a package of community actions to be implemented in three Latin American municipalities, in Colombia, Mexico and Peru. The community actions were based on the Institute for Health Care Improvement's framework for going to full scale, and include: (i) involvement of a Community Advisory Board, (ii) involvement of a project champion, (iii) adoption mechanisms, (iv) support systems and (v) a communication campaign. By presenting a protocol for developing community actions with input from local stakeholders, this article contributes to advancing the public health field of alcohol prevention by potentially stimulating the sustainable adoption and implementation of brief alcohol advice in routine practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Implementation of evidence-based care for heavy drinking and depression remains low in global health systems. We tested the impact of providing community support, training, and clinical packages of varied intensity on depression screening and management for heavy drinking patients in Latin American primary healthcare. Materials and methods: Quasi-experimental study involving 58 primary healthcare units in Colombia, Mexico and Peru randomized to receive: (1) usual care (control); (2) training using a brief clinical package; (3) community support plus training using a brief clinical package; (4) community support plus training using a standard clinical package. Outcomes were proportion of: (1) heavy drinking patients screened for depression; (2) screen-positive patients receiving appropriate support; (3) all consulting patients screened for depression, irrespective of drinking status. Results: 550/615 identified heavy drinkers were screened for depression (89.4%). 147/230 patients screening positive for depression received appropriate support (64%). Amongst identified heavy drinkers, adjusting for country, sex, age and provider profession, provision of community support and training had no impact on depression activity rates. Intensity of clinical package also did not affect delivery rates, with comparable performance for brief and standard versions. However, amongst all consulting patients, training providers resulted in significantly higher rates of alcohol measurement and in turn higher depression screening rates; 2.7 times higher compared to those not trained. Conclusions: Training using a brief clinical package increased depression screening rates in Latin American primary healthcare. It is not possible to determine the effectiveness of community support on depression activity rates due to the impact of COVID-19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]