Using An Educational Intervention to Reduce Alcohol Consumption Among Older Adults

An estimated 60% of adults between 65 to 75 years report consuming alcohol. According to Ettner et al. (2014) drinking does decline as age advances, but there are increased risks associated with drinking for older adults compared to younger adults. Older adults take numerous medications that might counteract alcohol, impairing their judgment and physiology. While the recommendation for older adults is to reduce their consumption or abstain completely, there is still a high prevalence of older adults who consume alcohol. With the ever-growing number of older adults, there is a likelihood there will be an increased number of older adults who consume alcohol, increasing healthcare costs.

With an estimated 20% of the population aged 65 years or older by 2030, there is a need to ensure alcohol consumption is reduced, leading to reduced healthcare costs (Ettner et al., 2014). The use of an educational intervention to reduce at-risk drinking is beneficial to the population because we will have a healthier older population, and healthcare costs used for their treatment can be redirected to other vital areas. At-risk drinkers are identified as those who consume four or more per occasion at least weekly, take sedatives three to four times a week and consume two drinks per day, or consume two drinks a week and have memory problems.

Whenever an intervention is implemented to assist in alcohol reduction amongst older adults, there is a reduction in alcohol consumption. At-risk-drinkers tend to reduce when educated on the risk of alcohol when combined with other medications or symptoms. The overall goal of the educational intervention is to reduce or lower alcohol consumption reducing the risks associated with alcohol consumption. There have been significant declines in physician visits associated with reduced alcohol consumption. It is predicted that there will be 1.14 fewer physician visits in a follow-up year after the educational intervention, indicating fewer healthcare costs associated with the intervention (Ettner et al., 2014).

Though the educational intervention is deemed effective in reducing all categories of at-risk drinking, no significant improvements were observed in driving after drinking. Therefore, there might be a need for a different intervention targeting this particular risk behavior. Further analysis can determine why an educational intervention is ineffective in modifying driving after drinking behavior. The underlying issue causing patients not to change their behavior could be their lack of...

…An analysis of the psychological and social constructs of alcohol use among older adults should be done. Drinking does reduce with advancing age (Ettner et al., 2014), and for those older adults who do not reduce their drinking, there might be social and psychological constructs making them continue to consume alcohol. Addiction comes to mind since there is no other explanation for overconsumption of alcohol as one age. Alcohol consumption could be a social aspect for the individual because they have no friends and find it easy to hang out at the bar to socialize. Without much to do, the older adult finds they have loads of free time, pushing them to alcohol consumption as their way to pass the time.

In conclusion, it is vital to implement an educational intervention to help in reducing alcohol use among older adults. Increasing their knowledge of the impact of alcohol and the adverse effects it can have on their health when combined with other medications they take. In most cases, older adults have no idea that excessive alcohol consumption can devastate their lives. Encouraging them to reduce their consumption levels or stop taking particular medications can improve their lives and reduce their…