We examined acceptability and feasibility of a tablet application ('App') to record selfreported alcohol consumption among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians. Four communities (1 urban; 3 regional/remote) tested the App, with 246 adult participants (132 males, 114 females). The App collected a) completion time; b) participant feedback; c) staff observations. Three research assistants were interviewed. Only six (1.4 %) participants reported that the App was 'hard' to use.Participants appeared engaged, to require minimal assistance; and nearly half verbally reflected on their drinking or drinking of others. The App has potential for surveys, screening or health promotion.

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Aims: An understanding of alcohol's place in Iraq's history and society can help inform alcohol policy responses in that country and other Muslim majority countries. This paper describes the history of alcohol in Iraq from ancient to modern times, with reflection on the challenges facing Iraqi youth today.Methods: A search was undertaken to identify peer reviewed and grey literature that describes alcohol-related practices, norms and values across the millennia in Iraq. A historical overview is provided of alcohol's use and context, with more detail on recent times.Findings: Alcohol was an important commodity in Iraq until the rise of Islam in the 7 th century CE. Despite the subsequent Islamic restrictions on alcohol, alcohol remained present in Iraq's society and cultures. Recent studies provide varying descriptions of the prevalence of alcohol consumption and there are challenges in researching this sensitive topic. External forces shaping alcohol use in Iraq include direct and indirect alcohol promotion, globalised media, and conflict and violence with its associated stress and trauma. Conclusion:Alcohol research and policy development in Iraq must consider the country's unique cultural, religious, historical and political context. Iraq's youth may be subject to pressures to increase consumption and thus policies must be informed by an understanding of the complex set of current perspectives and pressures.

Background The Grog Survey App is a visual and interactive tablet computer-based survey application. It has been shown to be an accurate and acceptable tool to help Indigenous Australians describe what they drink. Methods The Grog Survey App was used to enquire into patterns of drinking in a stratified sample of Indigenous Australians in urban and remote/regional sites during testing of the App. The App asked about the last four drinking occasions in the past 12 months, including preferred alcohol types and containers; and symptoms of alcohol dependence, based on ICD-11 descriptions. Drinking patterns are presented here using medians and interquartile ranges, and the thresholds set out by the Australian National and Health and Medical Research Council guidelines. Patterns of consumption are compared by gender and remoteness, using Wilcoxon rank-sum test to compare medians. Logistic regressions tested whether alcohol types and drinking containers varied by remoteness. Results In this stratified sample most people either consumed nothing (21.7%), or consumed quantities which placed them at short- (95.6%) or long-term risk (47.8%) of harms. Drinkers in remote areas were more likely to drink beer, but less likely to drink pre-mixed spirits. ‘Stubbies’ and other beer glasses were popular in urban areas, compared with ‘slabs’ (cases of beer) in remote/regional areas. The use of improvised containers (i.e. empty juice bottles) did not vary by remoteness. Nearly one in six (15%) current drinkers reported experiencing at least two symptoms of alcohol dependence at least monthly. Average drinks per day was the consumption measure most highly correlated with each dependence symptom ( r = 0.34–0.38). Conclusions The App was able to capture a wide range of preferred alcohol types and containers, and demonstrate a diversity in how alcohol is consumed. This detail was captured in a relative brief survey delivered using an interactive and appealing tablet computer-based application.