Perceptions of Dutch primary health care providers regarding alcohol health warning labels: A qualitative study
Abstract
Aims:
Alcohol contributes to 2,6 million deaths globally. A promising policy option to address this health burden is the use of health warning labels on alcoholic products. However, the important perspectives of primary healthcare providers on this strategy have not been investigated until now. This study explored Dutch primary healthcare providers perspectives on alcohol health warning labels in general, and in particular on their content and format, and their influence on alcohol-related professional practices.
Methods:
This qualitative study used semi-structured interviews with Dutch primary healthcare providers aged 18-67 years. Participants were recruited via convenience sampling. A coding scheme was developed guided by the I-Change Model. Thematic analysis was used for data analysis. Themes were predetermined using the I-Change Model and adapted according to the data.
Results:
Thirteen Dutch primary healthcare providers were included. Results showed that although most participants doubted the effectiveness of alcohol health warning labels in changing consumers behavior, the majority supported their use and believed they would influence consumers’ awareness of alcohol-related risks. For the content and format, they preferred a specific, clear, and a more visible label. Participants believed health warning labels would positively impact their alcohol discussions with patients.
Conclusion:
Primary healthcare providers generally support alcohol health warning policies, and these labels may positively influence their discussion of alcohol with patients. They should be considered important stakeholders in strengthening label policies.
In consideration of publishing this article the authors transfer, assign, or otherwise convey all copyright ownership to the International Journal of Alcohol and Drug Research. By this transfer, the article becomes the property of the International Journal of Alcohol and Drug Research and may not be published elsewhere without written permission from the journal.
This transfer of copyright also implies transfer of rights for printed, electronic, microfilm, and facsimile publication. The author(s) will receive no royalty or other monetary compensation for transferring the copyright of the article to the International Journal of Alcohol and Drug Research. IJADR, in turn, grants each author the right to republish the article, without paying royalties to IJADR, in any book of which he or she is the author or editor, subject to the express conditions that (a) the author notify the International Journal of Alcohol and Drug Research in writing of this republication and (b) a credit line attributes the original publication to the International Journal Of Alcohol and Drug Research.
Licence:
Articles are licenced with a Creative Commons License Deed -- you are free to share articles but must give appropriate attribution, may not use for commercial purposes or distribute modified works. See CC/BY-NC/ND/4.0/.
Author Agreement:
As the submitting author, and on behalf of all of the manuscript authors I agree with the terms above relating to the copyright transfer of the manuscript to the International Journal of Alcohol and Drug Research.
