Raising awareness and action-research on Heavy Episodic Drinking among low income youth and young adults in Southern Europe

ended

ALLCOOL is a project where a consortium of research and collaborating stakeholders in 3 South European countries (Portugal, Spain and Italy) aim to tackle the growing trend of Heavy Episodic Drinking (HED) in the region. More research is needed to analyse the relationship between HED and lower socio-economic youth and young adults (15-30 years old). This is particularly relevant in Southern European countries going through a socioeconomic crisis, with increasing unemployment rates especially among recently graduated students and decreasing family income. By promoting healthy lifestyles, filling research gaps and implementing innovative and replicable local interventions focusing on prevention of heavy episodic drinking among youth this project will: 1) promote good health among EU youth population; 2) in the long-term, contribute to the sustainability of the health systems and healthy work forces. To achieve this, this project intends to conduct research at the local level (WP4) that will be later compared in order to understand the local, national and south European similarities of drinking patterns, context and policy. The research results will be crucial for the development of local interventions, and produce the necessary knowledge about HED in Southern Europe, especially among low-income and unemployed young adults. This project expects also to empower and raise awareness about binge HED, especially among low-income groups, both on a local and European level. This will be done through the creation of 3 local consultative forums, the production and dissemination of local, national and European recommendations to inform comprehensive HED policy measures, in line with WHO Global Strategy to reduce harmful use of alcohol (WP25. Intervention pilots will also be implemented on a local level, in order to design and experiment adapted and effective approaches to intervene on HED, especially among low income youth and unemployed graduated young adults (WP6).