In the article, addressing inequities in alcohol consumption and related harms authored by Ann Roche, Victoria Kostadinov, Jane Fischer, Roger Nicholas, Kerryn O’Rourke, Ken Pidd, and Allan Trifonoff (2015);
Economic inequalities have always been concerning of many societies since the advent of civilizations and sedentary lifestyles. One of the determinants which have been billed as measures of wealth and high status is recreational abilities. However, such aspects have brought about health issues because of the harmful effects of overindulging in recreational aspects such as alcohol consumption. In the article, addressing inequities in alcohol consumption and related harms authored by Ann Roche, Victoria Kostadinov, Jane Fischer, Roger Nicholas, Kerryn O’Rourke, Ken Pidd, and Allan Trifonoff (2015), focuses on the harmful effects of alcohol consumption as par economic their economic statuses.
The authors define their research problem which they have narrowed to the effects of alcohol consumption based on the social determinants. The social determinants which are stated in the article are employment opportunities, housing, education, work conditions, which are all dictated by the economic, political and social factors. As a result, there is an unequal distribution of income, power, services, and goods. The research problem in this article is written and espouses the overall objective of carrying out the research. However, the article does not state the research questions which will be explored in the paper, or the answers which their study would seek to answer. The authors approach the research problem head-on, without providing the reader with a breakdown of what is expected to be achieved at the end of the study. The research objectives should be designed in a way that they are divided into several parts, and those parts are tackled separately. In this case, the research objectives should give an overview of the steps of what will be studied and how the aims of the study will be achieved (Omair, 2015). This is having not been taken care of the paper, and the authors have handled the article without giving guidelines of the research objectives. This provides the paper with a jumbled view, which lessens the ability of the reader to assess its significance to the subject matter based on originality of content.
The main point of the study is the one which is given, which gives the reader a direct interaction with the content before the actual data analysis and presentation. The authors subject their study to a predetermined conclusion which can be deciphered in the introduction. That is the reader can understand that inequality in the society leads to alcohol abuse and subsequent harmful effects. However, the study gives the reader the aim in the abstract which is commendable because it correlates with the retrospective study. The abstract is written and offers a perfect review of what the paper is all about. This gives the article a guideline on what the reader can expect from the research which makes it professional.
The article hypothesizes that social determinants correlate with the alcohol consumption and subsequent harmful effects due to abuse. The hypothesis is that people of lower social classes in the society are more prone to be affected by the effects of alcohol abuse. On the other hand, the well-off people in the community can handle alcohol responsibly. As a result, alcohol consumption is unevenly distributed in the community and abuse occurs differently. In this aspect alcohol consumption is influenced by societal patterns and therefore there are different levels of harm to the users. Therefore, the paper offers to give intervention measures which will be based on policies to control the harmful effects of alcohol use, especially in the Australian population.
The authors have taken Australia as the target country because they believe that Australians are one of the leading populations with high alcohol consumption. The harmful effects of alcohol consumption range from economic, social, psychological and physical damages. For example, the authors state that intoxication can lead to assault, physical injuries, loss of employment, development of alcohol-related diseases and disintegration of families. Therefore, the paper offers the bases on which they are doing the paper, despite that they present it from a predetermined point of reference.
The authors do not record a literature review in the paper but rather provide an excerpt of the way the literature review was done. In this case, it seems the authors virtually did the literature review and did not mind noting them down in the research paper. However, they have indicated that there has been little research which has been done on the relationship between social determinant and alcohol use and the harms related to it. This is an indication that the authors advise more research to be done on the subject matter. The article provides a detailed explanation of how literature for the paper was selected to provide data for the paper. In this case, the literature review is presented as the method of carrying out the research. This is an error regarding how the research should be conducted as independent literature review should be done as the preliminary way of the what has already been done of on the topic. A literature review is essential in research because it guides the research and avoids duplication of content or aspects of research which has been done before in a similar topic (Torraco, 2016).
The research is relevant to today’s society because it tries to give an analysis and observation of the differences in alcohol consumption based on social determinants. Alcoholism is one of the social ills which affect the development of the society. This is because the conditions which people are born into, live in, grow or work, have a tremendous impact on the well-being and health of people. The environment and the people influence the drinking behaviors of a person. Therefore, this research is more relevant especially in developing nations where the people are ravaged by alcohol and substance abuse and how it has affected the development of the societies. The harmful effects have serious impacts on the development of the society because it disrupts the social structure, the workforce, and the political nature of the society. Many people have succumbed to the perils which are associated with alcohol abuse. Therefore, the study offers intervention measures which can alleviate this social anomaly for the development of the society.
The paper used a non-experimental way of collecting data, where the method used in the systemic review of available literature which has been done on the selected topic. The method used for finding the appropriate literature was carefully done, with the criteria for selection being conceptual, theoretical, and descriptive. The selected publications were then taken into a second step verification which included program and policy evaluations, systematic reviews and experimental studies relevant to the study were used. This kind of the description of the method of selecting the appropriate data for analysis of the paper. However, it could have been better for the authors to have a practical way; regarding tabulations of the publications for validating the legitimacy of the information given. The provision of the systematic process of the way in which the data for the paper was collected still offers the reader on the level of professionalism of the authors.
The sample selected for carrying out the study is relevant to the subject matter which is discussed in the paper. The paper has used Australia as the target country on alcohol consumption and its relation to social determinants. Australia is one of those countries in the world which has a highly established culture of drinking, with average Australian drinking approximately nine liters of pure alcohol per year (Fitzgerald, 2013). This statistic puts the country into among the top 30 countries of alcohol consumption above countries such as Germany, Ireland, United Kingdom and France. Many families in Australia have a history of being heavy drinkers and this results to estimated 3000 deaths being caused by direct consumption of alcohol. Over 5000 of all cases of cancer and other chronic diseases are caused by prolonged excessive consumption of alcohol (Fitzgerald, 2013). Therefore, the selected country for the research is well suited for the research and can be used in the generalization of the findings. There is no bias whatsoever in the selection of Australia as the target sample for the study.
The study could have been improved if the authors had employed a literature review as part of their research. It could have aided in reducing the risks of duplicating of findings from other previous researchers on the topic. Also, they could have stated the research objectives, aims and research questions in a more logical manner. The research has employed a theoretical approach in its development which does not give it a scientific nature. The authors have not also stated if it’s a qualitative or quantitative study, an aspect which can give it an authentic touch necessary for research papers done professionally. The paperis written in a straightforward language which is easy to understand, despite that it does not have some of the steps which are necessary for a research paper. The paper, however, lacks the method which was used in the analysis of the data, but the results are given explicitly. Further research is needed in this field because despite that social determinants are related to consumption of alcohol; there are variables which can alter the assumptions used in this research.
To conclude, the paper is relevant to today’s society as it offers ways in which excessive consumption of alcohol can be remedied. The topic which is used in the paper is essential, and the outcome is useful, but it is very unfortunate that the study design used in the research was very poor. It is essential that the writers give a literature review on the topic of social determinants and alcohol consumption. The results of the paper are clearly defined and have given recommendations which are necessary for a research paper. However, the paper lacks the necessary steps required for scientific research despite it handling a sensitive matter of public health.
References
Fitzgerald, R. (2013). Under the influence. [Pymble, N.S.W.]: ABC Books.
Omair, A. (2015). Selecting the appropriate study design for your research: Descriptive study designs. Journal Of Health Specialties, 3(3), 153. doi: 10.4103/1658-600x.159892
Torraco, R. (2016). Writing Integrative Literature Reviews. Human Resource Development Review, 15(4), 404-428. doi: 10.1177/1534484316671606
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