Alcohol Misuse in the United Kingdom; descriptive literature review

Abstract

The objective of the research was to identify the causes of alcohol misuse in the United Kingdom. The re-search aimed to find interventions for alcohol misuse that are user-tailored and create awareness of the causes and underlying factors associated with alcohol misuse in the United Kingdom.

The study was a systematic literature review research that applied the integrative review method. The data for the research was obtained from CINAHL Ultimate and PubMed databases. Data driven thematic content data analysis was applied in the research.

The data indicated that alcohol misuse in the United Kingdom is highly related to serving in the military, mental health conditions, alcohol advertisement in different advertising channels, social pressure from friends to drink and drinking alcohol as a coping mechanism to life changes. To mitigate alcohol misuse, interventions such as improved alcohol advertisement policies, social integration, support to alcohol service users and proper train-ing of healthcare personnel would help reduce alcohol misuse in the country.

The research findings provide vital insight into causes of alcohol misuse in the United Kingdom as well as in-terventions that can be utilized to prevent alcohol misuse in the country. These findings can be used by health professionals and affiliated agencies to develop interventions for alcohol misuse and promote awareness of the factors identified in the research as contributing to alcohol misuse. Furthermore, governments and policymak-ers may use the findings to develop proposed alcohol advertising legislation to prevent alcohol misuse