Saburova, L;
Keenan, K;
Bobrova, N;
Leon, DA;
Elbourne, D;
(2011)
Alcohol and fatal life trajectories in Russia: understanding narrative accounts of premature male death in the family.
BMC Public Health
, 11
, Article 481. 10.1186/1471-2458-11-481.
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Abstract
Background: In the post-Soviet period, Russian working-age men have suffered unusually high mortality rates. Earlier quantitative work found that part of this is attributable to hazardous and harmful patterns of alcohol consumption, which increased in the period of transition at a time of massive social and economic disruption and uncertainty. However, there has been very little work done to document and understand in detail the downward life trajectories of individual men who died prematurely from alcohol-related conditions. Building on an earlier case-control study, this unique qualitative study investigates the perceived interplay between men's drinking careers, their employment and family history, health and eventual death.Methods: In-depth interviews were conducted with close relatives (most often the widow) of 19 men who died between 2003 and 2005 aged 25-54 years whose close relatives reported that alcohol contributed to their death. The study was conducted in a typical medium-sized Russian city. The relative's accounts were analysed using thematic content analysis.Results: The accounts describe how hazardous drinking both contributed to serious employment, family and health problems, and was simultaneously used as a coping mechanism to deal with life crises and a decline in social status. The interviews highlighted the importance of the workplace and employment status for shaping men's drinking patterns. Common themes emerged around a culture of drinking in the workplace, peer pressure from colleagues to drink, use of alcohol as remuneration, consuming non-beverage alcohols,Russian-specific drinking patterns, attitudes to treatment, and passive attitudes towards health and drinking.Conclusions: The study provides a unique insight into the personal decline that lies behind the extremely high working-age mortality due to heavy drinking in Russia, and highlights how health status and hazardous drinking are often closely intertwined with economic and social functioning. Descriptions of the development of drinking careers, hazardous drinking patterns and treatment experiences can be used to plan effective interventions relevant in the Russian context.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Alcohol and fatal life trajectories in Russia: understanding narrative accounts of premature male death in the family |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1186/1471-2458-11-481 |
| Publisher version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-11-481 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | © 2011 Saburova et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
| Keywords: | MORTALITY, DRINKING, HEALTH, MEN, TRANSITION, STYLES, CRISIS |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1315666 |
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