Newbury-Birch Dorothy, Harrison Barbara, Brown Nicola, Kaner Eileen
Institute of Health and Society, Newcastle University, UK.
Int J Prison Health. 2009;5(4):201-11. doi: 10.1080/17449200903343183.
The annual cost of alcohol-related harm in the UK is estimated to be between £17.7 and £25.1 billion with healthcare costs alone reaching £2.7 billion and the costs of alcohol-fuelled crime and disorder accounting for £7.3 billion each year. The aim of the study was to examine the prevalence of alcohol use disorders (AUD) in prison and probation settings in the North East of England, and to compare the ability of the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) and Offender Assessment System (OASys) at identifying alcohol-related need in probation clients. A quantitative prevalence study was carried out using anonymous questionnaires with participants from four prisons and three probation offices in the North East who voluntarily completed the AUDIT questionnaire during a 1-month period in 2006. Response outcomes on AUDIT were compared with OASys scores which identify alcohol-related need in probation. At the time of the study OASys scores were not available for offenders in prison. Seven hundred and fifteen questionnaires were completed. Sixty-three per cent of men and 57% of women were identified as having an AUD with over a third of all individuals scoring within the possibly dependant range (20+ on AUDIT). Around 40% of probation cases who were classified as either hazardous, harmful or possibly dependant drinkers on AUDIT were not identified by OASys. The results indicate that the prevalence of AUD in offenders is much higher than in the general population. In addition, current methods of identifying offenders with alcohol-related need in probation are flawed and as many such people go undetected. Alcohol assessment procedures need to be improved in criminal justice setting order to correctly identify people with AUD.
据估计，英国与酒精相关危害的年度成本在177亿至251亿英镑之间，仅医疗保健成本就达到27亿英镑，由酒精引发的犯罪和社会失序成本每年为73亿英镑。该研究的目的是调查英格兰东北部监狱和缓刑机构中酒精使用障碍（AUD）的患病率，并比较酒精使用障碍识别测试（AUDIT）和罪犯评估系统（OASys）识别缓刑人员中与酒精相关需求的能力。使用匿名问卷对来自东北部四所监狱和三个缓刑办公室的参与者进行了定量患病率研究，这些参与者在2006年的1个月期间自愿完成了AUDIT问卷。将AUDIT的反应结果与OASys分数进行比较，OASys分数用于识别缓刑人员中与酒精相关的需求。在研究时，监狱中的罪犯没有OASys分数。共完成了715份问卷。63%的男性和57%的女性被确定患有酒精使用障碍，超过三分之一的人得分在可能依赖范围内（AUDIT得分20分及以上）。在AUDIT中被归类为危险、有害或可能依赖饮酒者的缓刑案件中，约40%未被OASys识别。结果表明，罪犯中酒精使用障碍的患病率远高于一般人群。此外，目前在缓刑中识别有酒精相关需求罪犯的方法存在缺陷，许多这类人未被发现。刑事司法环境中的酒精评估程序需要改进，以便正确识别患有酒精使用障碍的人。
