Generating political priority for alcohol policy reform: A framework to guide advocacy and research.

Introduction: While effective policies exist to reduce alcohol-related harm, political will to enact them is low in many jurisdictions. We aimed to identify key barriers and strategies for strengthening political priority for alcohol policy reform.

Methods: A framework synthesis was conducted, incorporating relevant theory, key informant interviews (n = 37) and a scoping review.

Alcohol advertising near schools in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland.

Aim: There has long been concern about the exposure of children and young people to alcohol advertising, which places them at risk. This study aimed to measure the prevalence, type and location of alcohol advertisements within a 500-metre radius of schools in Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand.

Methods: A cross-sectional observational study was used to quantify alcohol advertisements within a 500-metre radius of 52 Auckland schools selected using stratified random sampling.

The practice of the alcohol industry as health educator: a critique.

Adolescence marks a developmental period with heightened vulnerability to alcohol use and its consequences. In this viewpoint paper, we examine the involvement of the alcohol industry in alcohol and other drug (AoD) education from both an alcohol harm reduction and a school-based health education perspective, using the example of the Smashed programme to illustrate our critique. We issue caution to schools that are invited to participate.

New Zealand adolescents' concerns about their alcohol use and access to services: Associations with ethnicity and other factors.

Using a national survey of 8,500 New Zealand high school students, we investigated adolescents' concerns about their drinking, associated factors including help-seeking preferences and access to health care services, and how these varied by ethnicity and level of socioeconomic deprivation. Approximately 23.9% of the 3,704 current drinkers reported concerns (i.

Disparities in Non-Fatal Health Outcomes in Pediatric General Trauma Studies.

When prevention efforts fail, injured children require high-quality health services to support their recovery. Disparities in non-fatal injury outcomes, an indicator of health-care quality, have received minimal attention. We evaluated the extent to which general trauma follow-up studies published in the peer-reviewed scientific literature provide evidence of socially patterned inequities in health, functional or disability outcomes ≥4 weeks after childhood injuries.

Uneven reductions in high school students' alcohol use from 2007 to 2012 by age, sex, and socioeconomic strata.

Background: Many Western countries have reported declines in adolescent alcohol use. This study examined changes in adolescent alcohol use in New Zealand between 2007 and 2012 and explored variations across sociodemographic strata.

Methods: Data from 2 nationally representative, cross-sectional high school surveys conducted in 2007 (n = 7709) and 2012 (n = 7266) were examined.

The role of neighborhood disadvantage, physical disorder, and collective efficacy in adolescent alcohol use: a multilevel path analysis.

Research into the salient exposures which explain neighborhood variation in adolescent alcohol use remains inconclusive. The Social Disorganization Theory suggests that neighborhood-level disadvantage may reduce collective efficacy to control adolescent risky behavior. Collective perceptions of physical disorder are also implicated in this neighborhood pathway.

Differential Effects of Neighborhood Type on Adolescent Alcohol Use in New Zealand.

Identifying neighborhood typologies associated with adolescent alcohol use can inform the development of harm reduction strategies. Utilizing data from a nationally representative youth survey (n = 4267) in New Zealand, latent class analysis was used to categorize neighborhood types (defined by 10 demographic, social and environmental indicators) to investigate their association with alcohol consumption and related harm. Three neighborhood types were distinguished: (1) "high outlet density and economic deprivation" (30 % of all neighborhoods); (2) "high deprivation, social disorganization, and unsafe" (38 %); and (3) "higher income, safe, and socially organized" (32 %).

Social and socio-demographic neighborhood effects on adolescent alcohol use: a systematic review of multi-level studies.

There is growing interest in the role of the neighborhood environment on adolescent alcohol use. Multi-level designs are ideally suited to this investigation due to their ability to examine area-level effects over and above the effects due to neighborhood composition. To date, most research in this area has focused on the physical availability of alcohol in the neighborhood.

Predictors of drinking patterns in adolescence: a latent class analysis.

Background: Uni-dimensional measures of alcohol consumption may be unable to fully capture the complexity of adolescent drinking and experience of alcohol-related harms. Latent class analysis provides an empirical method to understand different adolescent drinking patterns.

Methods: Latent class analysis was used to create typologies of drinking among the 5018 current drinkers in the national Youth '07 survey.

Binge drinking among Maori secondary school students in New Zealand: associations with source, exposure and perceptions of alcohol use.

Aim: Describe factors associated with binge drinking among Maori secondary school students.

Method: Analysis of Maori sample (n=1702) from the 2007 national youth health survey.

Results: Among current drinkers, 31.

Evaluating the effectiveness of public health interventions: the role and activities of the Cochrane Collaboration.

Public health decision makers, funders, practitioners, and the public are increasingly interested in the evidence that underpins public health decision making. Decisions in public health cover a vast range of activities. With the ever increasing global volume of primary research, knowledge and changes in thinking and approaches, quality systematic reviews of all the available research that is relevant to a particular practice or policy decision are an efficient way to synthesise and utilise research efforts.

It's in your hands: the value of handsearching in conducting systematic reviews of public health interventions.

Background: While there is an emerging evidence base in public health, the evidence can often be difficult to find. Indexing of journals in MEDLINE has assisted those conducting systematic reviews to more easily identify published studies. However, information technology and the processes associated with indexing are not infallible.