The price and taxation of alcohol in Australia, and a family-based alcohol intervention strategy for Aboriginal communities, were the subjects explored by the winning posters at this year’s National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre’s (NDARC) Symposium.
Primary authors Dr Natacha Carragher and Bianca Calabria beat out 38 other poster entrants to be declared the 2011 poster winners. The collection of 40 posters was the largest NDARC has ever had on display at its annual Symposium.
It was also the first year Symposium organisers invited a selection of poster authors to present their findings on stage to attendees. It proved to be one of the most popular sessions of the day.
“Poster presentations were a standout,” one attendee noted, reflecting the general sentiment among attendees.
While Carragher had two posters on show at the Symposium, she took home the 2011 prize for her work entitled ‘Which way forward? Weighing up the evidence base of pricing and taxation levers to redress alcohol-related harms in Australia’.
Topics covered in the poster included Australia’s recent introduction of an ‘alcopops’ tax and the impact of such taxes here and in Europe; the pros and cons of introducing a minimum pricing level for alcohol; and the lack of research on how point-of-purchase promotions impact on alcohol consumption.
Among Dr Carragher’s conclusions was that “each policy holds some promise of making inroads into alcohol misuse and are optimal when used in conjunction with one another.”
Bianca Calabria’s poster also looked at an alcohol related field of research, namely ‘The acceptability of a family based alcohol intervention to Aboriginal clients of a rural Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Service and drug and alcohol treatment agency’.
Specifically, the poster explored the acceptability of the Community Reinforcement and Family Training (CRAFT) program - which targets family members and friends of problem drinkers - to Aboriginal people. It also looked at the acceptability of a similar program, the Community Reinforcement Approach (CRA).
Among the results presented within the poster were Aboriginal clients’ preferred method of delivery of the programs, and the most/least acceptable session topics to be covered in the program.
Along with her conclusion, Calabria also included five recommendations regarding the delivery of the CRAFT and CRA programs, including that counsellors should be known and trusted by clients and have experience working in the local community.
To view the winning posters along with a selection of others that were on display at the NDARC 2011 Symposium, please see the attachments below.
Pictured: Professor Shane Darke with Dr Natacha Carragher.
Bianca Calabria’s co-authors were Anton Clifford, Anthony Shakeshaft, Christopher Doran, Juliane Allan, Miranda Rose, Komla Tsey and Rod MacQueen.
Natacha Carragher’s co-author was Jenny Chalmers.
