Experiences of alcohol-related harassment among medical students

Abstract

Alcohol-related harassment among medical students is common and tends to occur at drinking parties with senior college club members. Hence, one of the most important strategies for preventing alcohol-related harassment may be to disrupt this vicious cycle.

‘Being sick a lot, often on each other': students’ alcohol-related provocation

“…However, although research suggests this knowledge increases as students progress through their course, 51 other work suggests even final-year students lack knowledge around the importance of alcohol abuse. 12 Although the proportions of respondents who had experienced some form of alcohol-related provocation, or had provoked others, were slightly lower than those found in Nagata-Kobayashi et al 22 ' s study with medical students, our findings are nevertheless interesting. We found interesting gender differences whereby males reported significantly more situations of coercion and of feeling compelled to 'fit in' than females.…”

“…Third, most respondents were White and British making it difficult to generalise culturally: however, research suggests that non-Western students also engage in risky behaviours with alcohol consumption. 10,22,33,55,56 Finally, our response rate lacked the power to decipher significant differences between pre-clinical and clinical phase respondents. Other literature suggests that clinical students may consume less alcohol.…”

“…44 Finally, the consequences of initiation ceremonies can be devastating: more deaths than ever before have occurred during rites of passage since 1990, with alcohol consumption being a factor in 90% of them, and correlated with 80% of injuries resulting in paralysis, 95% of falls from high places and 94% of violent incidents on university property. 40 Social factors for medical students' alcohol use Driven by numerous accidents (including fatalities) that had occurred among their college students under the influence of alcohol, Nagata-Kobayashi et al 22 conducted a questionnaire study focusing on alcohol-related harassment among medical students in their Japanese School. They found that 86.3% (n = 821) of respondents had experienced some form of alcohol-related harassment.…”

“…Questions about alcohol-related provocation were divided into four situational categories (focusing on being a target, then an instigator): (i) pressure into consuming alcohol (when otherwise would not); (ii) forced to drink more than desired; (iii) coerced into drinking alcoholic beverages fast, and (iv) verbal, physical and sexual abuse resulting from alcohol consumption or non-consumption. The categories were adapted from expressions used by the Non-Profit Corporation to Prevent Alcohol and Drug Problems in Japan, 47 on which Nagata-Kobayashi et al 22 also based their scale as we were unable to find a Western version.…”

“…[2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16] Although some studies focus on anxiety and stress factors, [17][18][19][20][21] one Japanese study examined social aspects of medical students' alcohol consumption. 22 The aim of our study was to examine alcohol-related provocation within the context of British medical schools. We define alcohol-related provocation as 'any action that can make others feel coerced or compelled to consume alcohol or drink more alcohol than intended'.…”