Developing a guide for community-based groups to reduce alcohol-related harm among African migrants
Alison Jaworski A G , Tony Brown B , Catherine Norman C , Kiri Hata D , Mark Toohey E F , Dubravka Vasiljevic C and Rachel Rowe AA Drug and Alcohol Multicultural Education Centre, PO Box 2315, Strawberry Hills NSW 2012, Australia.
B Hunter Multicultural Community Drug Action Team, c/o Hunter Multicultural Community Drug Action Team Secretary, PO Box 119, Wallsend, NSW 2287, Australia.
C Hunter New England Local Health District, PO Box 119, Wallsend, NSW 2287, Australia.
D Penola House, Catholic Diocese of Maitland/Newcastle, 3 Wilson Street, Mayfield, NSW 2304, Australia.
E Ethnic Communities Council Newcastle & Hunter Inc., 2a Platt Street, Waratah, NSW 2298, Australia.
F Present address: Catholic Mission, PO Box 768, Newcastle, NSW 2300, Australia.
G Corresponding author. Email: alisonj@damec.org.au
Health Promotion Journal of Australia 27(1) 21-28 https://doi.org/10.1071/HE15030
Submitted: 30 April 2015 Accepted: 15 October 2015 Published: 5 January 2016
Abstract
Issue addressed: Alcohol-related harm is an issue of concern for African migrant communities living in Australia. However, there has been little information available to guide workers in developing culturally sensitive health promotion strategies.
Methods: A three-step approach, comprising a literature review, community consultations and an external review, was undertaken to develop a guide to assist organisations and health promotion groups working with African migrant communities to address alcohol-related harms.
Discussion: There was a high level of agreement between the three steps. Addressing alcohol harms with African migrant communities requires approaches that are sensitive to the needs, structures and experiences of communities. The process should incorporate targeted approaches that enable communities to achieve their resettlement goals as well as strengthening mainstream health promotion efforts.
Conclusions: The resource produced guides alcohol harm prevention coalitions and workers from the first steps of understanding the influences of acculturation and resettlement on alcohol consumption, through to planning, developing and evaluating an intervention in partnership with communities.
So what?: This paper advances knowledge by providing a precise summary of Australian African migrant focused alcohol and other drug research to date. It also describes a three-step approach that aimed to incorporate a diversity of community views in the creation of a health promotion and community capacity-building resource.
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