Abstract of Thesis
Alcohol Liberation Pathway
A Social Holistic Intervention Model to Address Alcohol Abuse in the Wiradjuri Condobolin Community - University of Sydney - MAppSc - 2008
Percival Montgomery Knight
Today, more than one third (35.4%) of the Australian population consumes alcohol at levels that are risky or at a level of high risk of causing harm in the short term at least once a year (Strategy, 2006).
Alcohol consumption among Aboriginal people is also a very serious issue. Major government research of the last 25 years reporting on the status of Aboriginal health is consistent in its findings that alcohol misuse and abuse in Aboriginal communities continues to be a major health risk for Aboriginal people.
Alcohol misuse is both a consequence and a cause of disordered physical, social, emotional and spiritual functioning in Australian Indigenous communities. Alcoholism is an illness and sufferers achieve nothing while sick (Knight, 2004). Society needs to prevent and treat the disease of alcoholism and alcohol abuse before the full potential of the Aboriginal people and its community can be achieved. Yet despite the evidence showing the negative consequences on the family and the community of alcohol misuses and abuse, a major health risk continues. Indeed it appears that newly related problems are emerging, such as alcohol foetal syndrome.
But the ‘grog’ was never part of traditional Aboriginal culture. So what are possible solutions to this problem?
This study looked at the issue by studying the circumstances of an Aboriginal community in a small isolated town in central west NSW. The research went behind the statistics by using qualitative research techniques, particularly interviews and focus groups of the relevant stakeholders in the local community.
This study premise arising from the apparent failure of previous approaches is that the problem of alcohol abuse and misuse must acknowledge the importance of the socio-economic circumstances of sufferers, such as employment status, housing circumstance, community environment and connection to culture. If significant improvement is to occur in the health status of Aboriginal people who misuse and abuse alcohol, it is essential these deeper underlying causes of addiction must be addressed and that a preventative, holistic (rather than a clinical curative) approach be adopted (Knight, 2004). The study results confirm this premise as being well founded.
Having confirmed the core problem by considering some of the results of the focus groups and interviews, the question them arises of how a holistic perspective might be applied practically? This study presents an ‘Alcohol Liberation Pathway’ as a model that takes up the challenge of providing a holistic sense of wellness and well-being to Indigenous people afflicted by alcohol abuse. The research included an investigation of responses a to such an approach and results strongly suggest such a model is an applicable one to implement as a away to address the core issue of alcohol abuse and misuse in Indigenous communities.
For a full copy of this thesis, please contact the University of Sydney.
