The public in Aotearoa New Zealand support policies to reduce alcohol harm: results from a national survey.
A nationally representative cross-sectional survey of 1,635 people in Aotearoa New Zealand found majority public support for all 10 proposed alcohol-harm policies, including support across voting intentions for six policies.
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A nationally representative cross-sectional survey of 1,635 people in Aotearoa New Zealand found majority public support for all 10 proposed alcohol-harm policies, including support across voting intentions for six policies.
Research significance
The survey provides evidence of public acceptability for alcohol-control policies; it is reasonable but inferential to hypothesize that implementing effective policies could reduce alcohol exposure and subsequent cancer burden, as this study did not test policy adoption, alcohol consumption, cancer incidence, or pediatric outcomes.
Source abstract
AIM: Alcohol consumption is a cause of at least seven types of cancer and contributes substantially to Aotearoa New Zealand's cancer burden; population-level interventions are one way to reduce this burden. This study therefore investigates: 1) public support for increased action by politicians to reduce alcohol-related harm, and 2) what policies are both strongly supported by the public and have high consistency of support by voting intention. METHODS: Data are from a nationally representative, cross-sectional online survey examining public support for evidence-based cancer-related policies in Aotearoa New Zealand. RESULTS: We used oversampling to include a sufficient number of Māori (n=385, 23.5% of the sample) and Pacific people (n=368, 22.5%) among our sample of n=1,635. An estimated 71.1% of the population think politicians should do more to keep people safe from alcohol harm, with majority support across the political spectrum. There was overall majority support for each of the 10 alcohol policies/laws proposed, and cross-party support by voting intention across six policies. Support ranged from 54.9% for increasing the price of alcohol using excise tax to 84.4% for improved online alcohol delivery safeguards. CONCLUSION: There is strong public support for politicians and the government to act, and to introduce evidence-based alcohol policies recommended by the World Health Organization, with the aim of reducing alcohol-related health burdens, including cancer.