Developing an alcohol policy assessment toolkit: application in the western Pacific.
OBJECTIVE
To demonstrate the development and feasibility of a tool to assess the adequacy of national policies aimed at reducing alcohol consumption and related problems.


METHODS
We developed a quantitative tool - the Toolkit for Evaluating Alcohol policy Stringency and Enforcement (TEASE-16) - to assess the level of stringency and enforcement of 16 alcohol control policies. TEASE-16 was applied to policy data from nine study areas in the western Pacific: Australia, China excluding Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), Hong Kong SAR, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore and Viet Nam. Correlation and regression analyses were then used to examine the relationship between alcohol policy scores and income-adjusted levels of alcohol consumption per capita.


RESULTS
Vast differences exist in how alcohol control policies are implemented in the western Pacific. Out of a possible 100 points, the nine study areas achieved TEASE-16 scores that ranged from 24.1 points for the Philippines to 67.5 points for Australia. Study areas with high policy scores - indicating relatively strong alcohol policy frameworks - had lower alcohol consumption per capita. Sensitivity analyses indicated scores and rankings for each study area remained relatively stable across different weighting schemes, indicating that TEASE-16 was robust.


CONCLUSIONS
TEASE-16 could be used by international and national regulatory bodies and policy-makers to guide the design, implementation, evaluation and refinement of effective policies to reduce alcohol consumption and related problems.
National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, University of New South Wales, 22-32 King Street, Sydney, New South Wales, 2031, Australia .
Natacha
N
Carragher
Centre for Applied Health Economics, Griffith University, Meadowbrook, Australia .
Joshua
J
Byrnes
Hunter Medical Research Institute, New Lambton, Australia .
Christopher M
CM
Doran
National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, University of New South Wales, 22-32 King Street, Sydney, New South Wales, 2031, Australia .
Anthony
A
Shakeshaft
D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence* / Q000517:prevention & control*; D001208:Asia; D001315:Australia; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D006291:Health Policy; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D009520:New Zealand