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Working with the police service and homeless services in North West England to reduce alcohol harms: A feasibility study of a tailored Blue Light approach

Irizar, Patricia, Vicary, Emily, Glossop, Zoe, Waller, Gillian, Lightowlers, Carly, Quigg, Zara, Roper, Louise, Gilmore, Ian, Coulton, Simon, Newbury-Birch, Dorothy, and others. (2023) Working with the police service and homeless services in North West England to reduce alcohol harms: A feasibility study of a tailored Blue Light approach. Journal of substance use and addiction treatment, 159 . Article Number 209259. ISSN 2949-8759. (doi:10.1016/j.josat.2023.209259) (KAR id:104438)

Abstract

Deaths caused by alcohol are increasing in England and 80 % of people with alcohol use disorders (AUDs) are not in treatment. The Blue Light approach (Alcohol Change UK) is an initiative to support people with AUDs who are not in treatment. This study aimed to tailor the Blue Light approach (combined with alcohol identification and alcohol brief interventions [ABI] training) for police officers and homeless service staff in North West England, and to qualitatively evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of the training. The Blue Light approach was tailored using co-production activities, based on Transdisciplinary Action Research. Full-day and half-day training sessions were delivered to the police (full-day N = 14, half-day N = 54) and homeless service staff (full-day N = 11, half-day N = 32), in local police stations and online (four half-day sessions). Semi-structured interviews (N = 23) were conducted to evaluate implementation and integration, analysing the qualitative data in line with Normalisation Process Theory. Four themes were identified, each with two to three sub-themes, reflecting: (i) the importance of training for working practice, (ii) implementation of the interventions, (iii) changes to relationships within and between organizations, and (iv) recommendations for further changes to the training. Differences in findings across the organizations (police versus homeless services) and by training type attended (full-day versus half-day, in-person versus online) are presented. There is evidence to suggest that the training has provided worthwhile knowledge and intervention techniques that can become embedded into working practices. Nevertheless, structural barriers were apparent, primarily within the police service, with clear disparities between recognising the value of the training and what is achievable in practice, given the competing demands. [Abstract copyright: Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.]

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1016/j.josat.2023.209259
Uncontrolled keywords: qualitative; alcohol; framework analysis; feasibility; normalisation process theory
Subjects: H Social Sciences
Divisions: Divisions > Division for the Study of Law, Society and Social Justice > School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research > Centre for Health Services Studies
Funders: Champs Public Health Collaborative (https://ror.org/00q80jg86)
SWORD Depositor: JISC Publications Router
Depositing User: JISC Publications Router
Date Deposited: 19 Feb 2024 12:32 UTC
Last Modified: 20 Feb 2024 13:48 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/104438 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

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