title: Seeking help because of others' drinking.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Many individuals contact and are assisted by community and emergency services because of someone else's drinking. Previous studies have focused on family members accessing services, such as Alcoholics Anonymous due to significant others' drinking; however, little is known about service use in the broad community. This paper aims to estimate the prevalence of contacting the police and seeking help from health services because of others' drinking and to compare the profiles of individuals seeking services with those who did not contact a service.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 2649 adult Australians were surveyed about their experience of harm from others' drinking, including use of emergency and community services.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In the 12 months prior to the survey, 13% of respondents had contacted the police and 5% had sought help from a health-related service. Using logistic regression, being older and having a secondary school education were associated with a decreased likelihood of contacting police because of others' drinking, whereas residing in a non-metropolitan location was positively associated with using health-related services. Having a partner was negatively associated with use of health-related services. The extent of self-reported harm from others' drinking was the only factor associated with use of both police and health-related services.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Results suggest differences in the profile of respondents who call the police and those who seek health-related services due to others' drinking. This supports the need for tailored services to support and address the needs of people experiencing harm from others' drinking.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Alcohol Policy Research, Turning Point, Melbourne, Australia.
authors.forename: Janette
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mugavin
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Livingston
authors.forename: Anne-Marie
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Laslett
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000453:epidemiology*; D001315:Australia / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006296:Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016495:Police / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015995:Prevalence; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: alcohol; harm to others; predictor; service use