42

The Alcohol Problem from Historical Perspective LAURICE K. DURRANT, R.N.,

an

ED.D.

Associate

Professor o f Nursing, Intercollegiate Centre for Nursing, Education, Washington State University NUMBER of months ago

personality that there

was

appalled

a

popular television guest’s comment alcoholics living in

at his

were nine million the United States today. Others have expressed similar concerns. In an Editorial in the December, 1972, Alcohol and Health Notes published by the National Institute for Health it is reported that about half of the estimated 56,000 people who will be killed in traffic accidents this year either will have been drinking themselves or will be victims of an intoxicated driver’. More recently in the April 27, 1975, issue of the Spokane Daily Newspaper a reporter speaking on the subject of ’The Teenage Alcoholic’ states that alcoholism is a rapidly growing problem among youth in Spokane and throughout the Nation 2. He adds that the greatest concern today is with respect to youth’s behaviour as a result of inebriation. At a drinking teenage party recently a teen-age girl shot and killed her boy friend. Figures compiled by the Federal Bureau of Investigation show that in 1973, across the nation, 118,438 persons under the age of 18 were arrested for violation involving alcohol. This is a marked increase over the 1960 arrests of 30,000 youths. Dobson in an article on &dquo;Alcoholism in the Clergy&dquo; estimates that there may be as many as 750 full-blown alcoholics among 11,000 Episcopal ministerS3 . A couple of headlines noted recently ran something like this &dquo;Military has High Alcoholism Rate&dquo; and &dquo;Alcohol is a Problem in Industry.&dquo; Below the headlines respectively were these sad comments: Alcoholism in the military is three times that in the rest of the nation and alcoholism costs U.S. industry about $10 million a year in sickness or accident benefits, low productivity, lost man-hours and absenteeism. Women’s liberation effort has apparently increased the risk with regards to alcohol. W. H. Kenyon, Director of the British Council on Alcoholism states that the proportion of alcoholic women has grown over a ten year period from 1 in 9 to 1 in 4 or 5, and evidence shows the proportion is still rising’. The abuse of alcohol is obviously a menace to society and appears by far a greater curse than all other youth oriented drugs put together. Which direction will our nation take to control the &dquo;octopus-like&dquo; spread of this dreadful &dquo;disease&dquo;? It is the author’s belief that an investigation into the origin of alcohol use and abuse

and attempts made to resolve the ensuing problem in the nineteenth century may serve as a base for further efforts along this line. History has generally proved itself of great value in certain disciplines such as medicine and engineering and it may do it again in the area of alcohol and alcoholism-prevention. HISTORICAL EVENTS: ALCOHOL CONSUMPTION AND EDUCATION A REVIEW of literature relating to the subject at hand reveals among others one important figure in the person of Mary Hunt and one major organization in the form of &dquo;The Women’s Christian Temperance Union&dquo;

(WCTU). Mary Hunt,

a college professor of chemistry and other sciences, was involved in research on alcohol as a chemical reagent in the last quarter of the 19th Century. This led to inquiry as to its origin, nature and effect upon the human system as found in the popular alcoholic drinks at that time. Mrs. Hunt said about her study that it &dquo;became an absorbing research that filled me with alarm for the future of a nation whose people were consuming such vast quantities of alcohol&dquo;5. Her concern was such that in 1876 she joined the WCTU organization which passed valuable resolutions in favour of teaching children the facts concerning the nature and effects of alcoholic beverages. Mrs. Hunt made several contributions to the alcohol education movement. She submitted a number of papers one of which outlined a thorough, systematic study of scientific or physiological temperance for all pupils in the schools of the United States6. She claimed that there were no well graded, suitable textbooks for the school teacher to use and in view of the fact that ’Physiology and Hygiene’ courses were compulsory in the public schools at that time she advocated the use of this avenue for the inclusion and study of content relating to alcohol. Her rationale was that the understanding of consequences from violating hygienic laws through the use of alcoholic drinks is based on the knowledge of ’normal physiology and general hygiene’. In 1882 Mrs. Hunt attended the Annual Meeting of the American Medical Association (AMA) in St. Paul, of the Minnesota. Her efforts resulted in the following resolution by the AMA: ‘Resolved to

Downloaded from rsh.sagepub.com at FUDAN UNIV LIB on May 8, 2015

passing

43 confine the uses of liquors to the use of science, art and medicine. Through her continued efforts and those of the WCTU’s the first compulsory temperance education law was added to the statute books of Vermont. Several states followed suit and by 1894 mandatory ’Scientific Temperance’ instruction was required by law in fortyone states. However, enforcing the law met with great difficulty because of the lack of satisfactory textbooks dealing with physiology and the deleterious effects of alcohol on the body. Publishers and authors were slow to believe there would be a permanent market for such textbooks. Preparation of the teacher was recognized as necessary to the success of an alcohol education programme. It was realized early that teachers were badly in need of training. In Mrs. Hunt’s words &dquo;there is now great need for trained instructors on this topic. Great harm has been done this cause, and the study has been brought into disrepute by persons going before institutes and attempting to give instruction when they were not qualified to do so, and were not prepared to answer the questions propounded by critics, friendly or otherwise&dquo;-5. In spite of difficulties Burrell, who studied parents and teachers opinions, recorded 96 ’favourable statements’ in favour of temperance instruction. Examples of such statements submitted to the legislature are: The children of our town look upon the liquor business as something not respectable. Thirty years ago some of the best families were in the business; now they are not and do not consider it a respectable trade. (Rockland County). It is teaching boys and girls correct ways of living especially those who have no good home training

(Orleans County)8.

From the early days Mrs. Hunt met with severe opposition. Burrell states in her defence: &dquo;It is evident that where dissatisfaction exists or where children are said not to enjoy the study an explanation is to be found in one or more of the following causes: 1. The failure of school officials properly to arrange the course of study with the result that the teachers feel this branch is a burden; 2. The selection of books unadapted to grade and the use of the same book through too many grades which leads to the charge of repetition; 3. The personal habits of teachers, in some instances not in harmony with the desired end of this instruc-

tion.&dquo;8.

Members of the New York State Science Teacher’s Association criticized the State Temperance and Physiology law. One of their arguments was that &dquo;pupils should be allowed to know that there is wide disagreement among authorities as to the physiological effects of a strictly moderate use of liquor for adults&dquo;9. Attacks against the programme of alcohol education came also from a group of scientists who organized themselves as ’The Committee of Fifty to Investigate the Liquor Problem’. An excerpt from their conclusion is that &dquo;it should not be taught that the drinking of one or two glasses of beer or wine by a grown person is very dangerous, for it is not true&dquo;10. These negative statements directed at alcohol education led Dr. Plumb to make the following observation: There are certain punctilious doctrinaires in Science who appear more strenuous to preserve a certain theoretical precision ... and seem more solicitous to spare the feelings and protect the self-indulgent tippling habits of the luxurious clas-

than to save the youth of the country from the ruin of drink, who are combining with the brewers in endeavours to repeal or embarrass and neutralize the enforcement of the temperance instruction lawsll. In spite of efforts to the contrary, several States temperance educational laws were repealed at the turn of the century. Moreover the liquor industry took advantage of statements such as &dquo;taken in moderation alcoholic drinks are not harmful&dquo; or &dquo;alcohol is a food and not a poison&dquo; to build a prosperous business using all the instruments of publicity available to enhance it. By the second decade of this century statements such as &dquo;alcohol creates poverty, cultivates crime&dquo; and &dquo;alcohol establishes social conditions generally which are a burden to society&dquo; were substantiated through numerous illustrations and examples. Referring to the steps taken to repeal the Prohibition Act, Dobyns, special assistant to the Attorney General of the United States presented the following argument: If the secret records of the brewing and distilling industry were ever brought to light they would tell the story of social and political corruption unequalled in the annals of history. If the veritable narrative of the American saloon were ever written, it would make the decadence of Rome look like an age of pristine purity in comparison’2. ses

REMEDIAL APPROACHES TO THE ALCOHOL PROBLEM TODAY WHAT HAVE we learned from history and does history repeat itself? As was evident in the review of literature, organized efforts to control alcohol abuse dates back to over a century ago. Today the problem of alcoholism is far from being resolved and the nine million alcoholics are not the ones solely affected by their self-inflicted &dquo;disease&dquo; but the family and society of which they are very much a part are subjected to numerous hardships as well. The majority of programs aimed at resolving the dilemmas caused by alcohol consumption deal with the &dquo;after the fact&dquo; curative approaches. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) has begun a 7 year $130 million program to try new approaches. Approximately $80 million of the total will support local community programs emphasizing a coordinated approach i.e. identification of the problem drinker-driver and rehabilitation. The NIAAA also contributes funds for the alcohol program using art therapy at a community mental health center in Washington D.C. This programme provides the alcoholic with freedom of expression in an art form. It is reported that promising results are anticipated from this type of therapy. It may be of interest to note here that Russians are taking a hard line on the use of alcohol. The &dquo;gazetta’’ indicates that abstinence is being promoted on moral as well as medical grounds and that production and sale of Vodka are being restricted. The newspaper added that drunkenness is incompatible with the principles of the socialist moral code and drunks should not be treated but rather they should be educated. Education in the harmful effects of alcohol is of limited value when a person has indulged in the use of the drug for a period of time. In the name of consumer education the beverage industry places ads in Newsweek, U.S. News, and World Report and other magazines using catch words such as &dquo;The best thing to mix with liquor is common sense&dquo; and &dquo;If you choose to drink, drink responsibly&dquo;. These ads seem ridiculous

Downloaded from rsh.sagepub.com at FUDAN UNIV LIB on May 8, 2015

44 to those who believe that preventive measures in the form of education must be started early in the child’s or youth’s life. Those who advocate preventive education feel that the liquor industry is compelled to use this warning approach to allow for its continued existence. Education started in the early grades must be carried out by knowledgeable teachers well prepared in content area and strategies in learning. In a brief article appearing in the Journal of School Health, Fricke laments the inadequate preparation of teachers in health education. She states it is not a criticism of the teacher, but rather an indictment of those responsible for teacher education for having failed to prepare their students to teach health and indirectly depriving those whom they teach of the right to know 13 . During the past month, a pilot investigation into the negative attitude towards health education of children and youth in a certain school district revealed that of the two ’health educators’ in that district one majored in business and the other in PE and neither was interested in teaching health. In addition, student nurses who investigated the availability and use of health textbooks were shocked to discover that the latest edition of health books found in certain school libraries were dated (or outdated) 1964 and students had no textbook requirement. Again the question is asked, does history repeat itself? The answer is irrevocably yes. The liquor industry will continue its palliative warning in the name of concern for the consumer of alcohol. Early education will suffer because of inadequate teacher preparation and poor use of health materials. Fortunately, institutions of higher learning such as Sam Houston State University are expanding their programme of health education to prepare school health educators. This is a first step in meeting adequately the urgent need of saving our children and youth-our citizens of tomorrow.

History is known to shed light on the past with a follow-up reflection on the present and an extension of illuminating rays towards the future. The heights to which we attain will depend on the depth of knowledge and insight gained from the past challenges and successes, and the careful sorting out and application of sound principles in the future.

LONELINESS Continued from page 41

tions. I have tried to show that whilst there is evidence that a quarter of elderly people feel lonely, it should not be considered as an at-risk situation comparable to isolation. Some of the causes of loneliness are in fact the result of out-of-date social policies, like the type of accommodation thought suitable, and the rigid retirement age, which have actually exacerbated the very situations thay were designed to solve. We need, therefore, to consider again our policies for the elderly, looking particularly at the differing needs of the two main groups, the Silver Age and the old old. Any policies we discuss today will still be being implemented in the year 2000, so it is in our own interests, I would suggest, that we get the answer right.

definition the warden or organizer lives in the street, she knows the residents and is known to them. She is seen as a link between the residents and the statutory services, and as an on-the-spot resource. She can be trained and supported to be alert to signs of deterioration both physical and mental and if she feels a visitor is required, she is in a position to introduce one.

CONCLUSION I HAVE, in this paper, confined my comments to the loneliness of elderly people who are living in the community, and I have tried to show that physical isolation

is not always the prime cause. Whilst many people find it difficult to conceive of loneliness within the family setting, of how lonely Granny can be confined to a granny-flat, they find it impossible to comprehend the loneliness suffered by many in an institution, whether it be in a local authority residential home or in a hospital ward. Perhaps theirs is the saddest lot of all, for rarely did they choose to be there, and so they have lost that most precious possession of the lonely person control over their own life-style. In my introduction I suggested that there were dangers in looking at problems and seeking definitive solu-

BIBLIOGRAPHY Editorial: New U.S. program Attacks Problem of Drinking Driver. Alcohol and Health Notes 1:1, 1972. COKER E. W.:"The Teenage Alcoholic." Spokesman Review Sun2 day Magazine, April 27, 1975. DOBSON, P. S.: Alcoholism in the Clergy. Listen 28:8, July 1975. 3 4 KENYON, W. H.: "About the Illness Alcoholism." Liverpool, Merseyside Council on Alcoholism, 1972. 5 HUNT M. H. History of the First Decade of the Department of Scientific Temperance instruction in Schools and Colleges of the WCTU. Boston, Geo. Crosby and Co. Printers, 1891. 6 FERGUSON W. B.: "Temperance Teaching and Recent Legislation in Connecticut." Annual Report of the Department of Interior 1900-1901. Vol. 1 Washington, Government Printing Office, 1902. LINDSAY E.: "Origin and Development of the School Health 7 Movement in the U.S." Doctor’s Thesis Stanford University, 1943. 8 BURRELL D. J. et al: "Report of the New York State Central Committee as to the Results of the Study of Physiology and Hygiene." Report of the Commissioner of Education, The Year 1904. Vol. 1 Washington, Government Printing Office, 1906. 9 Editorial: "Enforced Temperance among Railing Employees." Annual Report of the Department of Interior 1900-1901. Vol. 1 Washington, Printing Office, 1902. 10 BILLlNGS J. S. (Ed.) Physiological Aspects of the Liquor Problem. New York, Houghton, Mifflin and Co., 1903. 11 PLUMB A. H.: "Scientific Temperance Instruction in the Public School. Report of the Commissioner of Education." The Year 1894-1895. Vol. 2 Washington, Government Printing Office, 1896. 12 DOBYNS F.: The Amazing Story of Repeal: An Expose of the Power of Propaganda. New York, Willett, Clarck and Co., 1940. 13 FRICKE I.: An Editorial "Inadequate Teacher Preparation for Health Education." J. Sch Health XL VI: 74, February, 1971. 1

REFERENCES

1 A GE CONCERN (1974). The attitudes of the retired and elderly. Manifesto Series Number 32 Research Report. 2 PETER TOWNSEND (1973). The Social Minority pp 257-263. 3 AGE CONCERN. Op. cit. p 71. 4 NICHOLAS BOSANQUET. (1975). New Deal for the Elderly Fabian Society Tract. 5 PETER TOWNSEND.Op. cit. pp 257-263. 6 ROGER HADLEY and ADRIAN WEBB. (1974). Loneliness. Social Old people. Age Concern Manifesto Series Number Isolation 25. Special Report p 7. SIMONE DE BEAUVOIR. (1972). Old Age. 8 BRENDA MOHNAN. (1974). Unpublished Interim Report on Age Concern York: Voluntary Visiting Action Research Project. —

Downloaded from rsh.sagepub.com at FUDAN UNIV LIB on May 8, 2015

The alcohol problem from an historical perspective.

42 The Alcohol Problem from Historical Perspective LAURICE K. DURRANT, R.N., an ED.D. Associate Professor o f Nursing, Intercollegiate Centre for...
425KB Sizes 0 Downloads 0 Views