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This paper aims to investigate the cultural meanings of excessive drinking in three different countries with different levels of alcohol use chosen as case studies of wider geographies representing Northern (Denmark), Southern (Italy) and Eastern (Estonia) Europe.

Data were collected according to the Reception Analytical Group Interview method, using video clips as stimuli to enhance comparability. Eight online focus groups were organized in each country for a total number of 128 participants. Symbolic boundaries defining what drinking patterns are socially acceptable were then analysed to look at cross-national variations.

Results show how different conceptualizations of excessive drinking persist, although a convergence process among drinking patterns is also observed, which suggests that differences mainly depend on meanings and values attributed to intoxication. These are both rooted in the traditional drinking cultures and affected by ongoing social and economic change processes.

Because of the chosen research approach, the research results may lack generalizability, even at country level, as there are differences also within the same drinking culture; however, addressing these differences was beyond the scope of the present study, which aimed to contribute to understanding persisting differences in European drinking culture despite different drivers seem to act for globalization of drinking habits.

The paper includes implications for the development of tailored and effective prevention messages, considering rooted attitudes and cultural values attached to drinking and drunkenness in different European geographies, which are also related to conceptualizations of risks and pleasure.

This paper fulfils an identified need to understand persisting differences in alcohol-related behaviours and outcome in different European countries emerging from quantitative data.

College students report high levels of stress, with academic performance serving as a major contributor. The purpose of this study was to examine how drinking to cope with stressors related to student grade point average (i.e., GPA), while testing academic achievement orientations (i.e. mastery or performance) as possible moderators for this relationship.

In total, 325 undergraduate college students from a university in the Mountain West of the USA reported on GPA, daily drinking, coping and academic achievement orientations.

Drinking to cope negatively predicted GPA. Holding a mastery academic achievement orientation was related to higher GPA, whereas a performance academic achievement orientation was related to a more deleterious relationship between drinking to cope and GPA. However, neither orientation (i.e. mastery or performance) moderated the relationship between drinking to cope and GPA.

Regardless of academic achievement orientation, drinking to cope was negatively associated with GPA. The negative relationship between drinking to cope and GPA for those with a performance orientation may suggest that these students drink to cope with academic stressors. Importantly, students who choose to drink alcohol to cope with academic stress may paradoxically experience poorer academic performance. Future research should examine whether teaching a mastery orientation to college students can protect against the deleterious effects of drinking to cope on GPA.

Using data from 36,981 respondents to the Global Drug Survey (GDS) COVID-19 Special Edition, this study aims to compare changes, following the first “lockdown,” in alcohol consumption between lesbian, gay, bisexual and other sexual minority (LGB+) and heterosexual respondents with and without lifetime mental health and neurodevelopmental (MHND) conditions.

Characteristics and drinking behavior of respondents to GDS who disclosed their sexual orientation and past 30-day alcohol use were described and compared. LGB+ participants with and without MHND conditions were compared, and logistic regression models identified correlates of increased drinking among LGB+ people. The impact of changed drinking on the lives of LGB+ participants with and without MHND conditions was assessed.

LGB+ participants who reported that they were “not coping well at all” with the pandemic had twofold greater odds of reporting increased binge drinking. LGB+ participants with MHND conditions were significantly more likely than those without to report increased drinking frequency (18.7% vs 12.4%), quantity (13.8% vs 8.8%) and that changed drinking had impacted their lives.

This study, which has a uniquely large and international sample, explores aspects of alcohol use not considered in other COVID-19 alcohol use research with LGB+ people; and to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to explore alcohol use among LGB+ people with MHND conditions.

This study aims to investigate the consumption pattern of aerated drinks and examine its determinants among adolescents’ boys and girls (15–19 years) in India.

The fifth round of National Family Health Survey (2019-2021) data was examined applying sample weights. Pattern of consumption and its determinants was analysed separately for boys and girls using binary logistic regression and calculating adjusted odds ratio (AOR) at 95% confidence interval.

The daily, weekly and occasionally consumption of aerated drinks was 4.4%, 22.7%, 63% for boys and 2.9%, 14%, 70.8% for girls, respectively. Factors such as secondary/higher education [Boys AOR = 1.5, (1.2–1.9) (p = 0.001); Girls AOR = 1.2, (1.1–1.2) (p < 0.001)]; rich wealth index [Boys AOR = 1.8, (1.6–2.1) (p < 0.001); Girls AOR = 1.3, (1.3–1.4) (p < 0.001)]; fried food consumption [Boys AOR = 11.1, (9.5–12.9) (p < 0.001); Girls AOR = 11.5, (10.8–12.3) (p < 0.001)]; and watching television [Boys AOR = 1.5, (2.3–1.7) (p < 0.001); Girls AOR = 1.3, (1.3–1.4) (p < 0.001)] were found significant predictors of aerated drink consumption among adolescents.

The authors noted differences in consumption pattern between adolescents’ boys and girls. A shift to occasional consumption from weekly and daily was also observed. A further decrease in consumption may requires gender and region-specific health-promotion interventions. Rationalising sugar-sweetened beverages taxation adhering World Health Organisation’s recommendation to reduce affordability may be further researched in the Indian context. Furthermore, sale and consumption of traditional and locally available fruits, vegetables and healthy beverages may be warranted.

Research has examined how new ventures strengthen local economic outcomes; however, limited research examines health-oriented ventures and their impact on social outcomes, including health outcomes. Increased VC investment in healthcare service start-ups signals more activity toward this end, and the need for further academic inquiry. We examine the relationship between these start-ups and county-level health outcomes, health factors, and hospital utilization.

Data on start-ups funded via institutional venture capital from PitchBook were merged with US county-level outcomes from the County Health Rankings and Area Health Resources Files for 2010 to 2019. We investigated how the number of VC-funded healthcare service start-ups, as well as a subset defined as innovative, were associated with county-level health measures. We used panel models with two-way fixed effects and Propensity Score Matched (PSM), controlling for demographics and socioeconomic factors.

Each additional VC-funded healthcare service start-up was related to a significant 0.01 percentage point decrease in diabetes prevalence (p < 0.01), a decrease of 1.54 HIV cases per 100,000 population (p < 0.1), a 0.02 percentage point decrease in obesity rates (p < 0.01), and a 0.03 percentage point decrease in binge drinking (p < 0.01). VC-funded healthcare service start-ups were not related to hospital utilization.

This work expands our understanding of how industry-specific start-ups, in this case healthcare start-ups, relate to positive social outcomes. The results underscore the importance of evidence-based evaluation, the need for expanded outcome measures for VC investment, and the possibilities for integration of healthcare services and entrepreneurship ecosystems.

The author explored the direct and indirect relationships between policing and citizen satisfaction, considering both the policing and neighborhood context at the regional level.

The author conducted regression and path analysis based on the combined data of 190 local governments from the Korean National Police Agency, the Korean Crime Victim Survey and Statistics Korea.

Patrol officers, a public safety budget, criminal arrests and perceived safety were positively associated with citizen satisfaction, whereas drinking rate was negatively associated with citizen satisfaction. The arrest rate partially mediated the relationship between the public safety budget and citizen satisfaction. In addition, the relationship between drinking rate and citizen satisfaction with police was partially mediated by perceived safety.

Police and local governments should enhance citizen satisfaction by improving poor indicators of policing and neighborhood context and by considering the dynamics between factors.

Studies analyzing the mediating effects on citizen satisfaction with police are still lacking.

This study aims to evaluate the quality of a speech and language therapy (SLT) swallow service provided to adults with intellectual disability (ID) by exploring the process and outcome factors; to explore the process of what is done to and for the patient including identifying dysphagia, choking and pneumonia risk, typical interventions and management; examine clinical outcomes; and explore the relationship of outcomes with risk factors, satisfaction with the service and the impact of the service on the number of choking incidents and admissions to acute hospital with swallow concerns.

There were three specific work packages: (1) collecting and scrutinising patient data from the clinical record for adults with ID referred to the SLT swallow service over a six-month period. The researcher created aims, defined the limits to achieve the aims, designed a standardised data collection form, set out where data was in the clinical record, piloted, set limits for collection and trained reviewers; (2) gathering experience and satisfaction surveys from patients, caregivers and referrers over the six-month study period; and (3) monitoring choking adverse incident reports and hospital admission with swallow concerns for the whole ID population.

Choking and hospital admission were the main reasons for referral, and pneumonia risk significantly predicted dysphagia impairment. The research highlighted common dysphagia risk factors, interventions and recommendations for this population. The SLT swallow service is a quality service that is highly valued by patients, their caregivers and referrers. The service achieves significant clinical improvements, helps identify dysphagia and provides management to reduce associated risks.

This study found common dysphagia risk factors, interventions and recommendations; it also found that the therapy outcome measures/Royal College of Speech and Language Therapy online outcome tool was a meaningful outcome measure, and that pneumonia risk significantly predicted dysphagia impairment, all of which could inform the identified dysphagia research priorities for this population.

Naming usual care in treatment and recommendations could help ensure a fair service and could help form quality indicators. People with ID, their caregivers and staff generated valuable ideas for improvement, and further involvement work could create a logic model for the service. Other future work could explore the use of screening tools, increase multidisciplinary team working, improve access to instrumental assessments, raise awareness of swallowing and promote important oral health and medication reviews. By using this information to shape quality improvement work and policies, one can work toward addressing high health-related inequalities and preventable deaths associated with dysphagia in this vulnerable population.

It may be useful to raise awareness that adults with ID age earlier and that one should not exclude them from older people’s services because of an age threshold, often set higher than their life expectancy. This study highlighted a possible inequality of access issue for adults with ID who do not have direct care or day care staff. There is a need to increase access to awareness training so caregivers and general practitioners can recognise swallow difficulties and know how to make a referral for a swallow assessment.

Overall, the evaluation of the swallow service to adults with ID suggests that SLT have a quality service for adults with ID that is highly valued and provides significant clinical improvements. By building on these strengths, SLT could extend the reach, influence and impact of their services to help those adults with ID who have emerging swallow difficulties or who do not access the service.

Climate hazards in the form of cyclones are projected to become more intense under the pressures of future climate change. These changes represent a growing hazard to low lying coastal cities like Beira, Mozambique. In 2019, Beira experienced the devastating impact of Cyclone Idai. One of the many impacts resulting from this Cyclone was disrupted drinking water access. This investigation explores the distribution of Cyclone Idai’s impact on drinking water access via an environmental justice lens, exploring how preexisting water access characteristics may have predisposed households to the impacts of Cyclone Idai in Beria.

Relying on household survey data collected in Beira, the investigation applied a decision tree algorithm to investigate how drinking water disruption was distributed across the household survey sample using these preexisting vulnerabilities.

The investigation found that households that mainly relied upon piped water sources and experienced inconsistent access to water in the year prior to Cyclone Idai were more likely to experience disrupted drinking water access immediately after Cyclone Idai. The results indicate that residents in formal areas of Beira, largely reliant upon piped water supply, experienced higher rates of disrupted drinking water access following Cyclone Idai.

These findings question a commonly held assumption that informal areas are more vulnerable to climate hazards, like cyclones, than formal areas of a city. The findings support the inclusion of informal settlements in the design of climate change adaptation strategies.

This study aims to develop a better understanding of the key determinants of repetitive visits to coffee shops. The paper intends to answer a simple, yet crucial question, “Why do people go to coffee shops repeatedly, and frequently?”.

Two coffee shops in North Cyprus are used as case studies in order to provide in-depth information about the perceptions and experiences of coffee shop clients, managers and staff. An inductive methodological structure together with qualitative data collection methods provided a rich, exploratory setting.

A social network of customers and employees, communication with familiar people and sharing a homely feel are found to be the key determinants of clients' attachment. Comfort, security, sense of belonging and the convenience of the place also play a pivotal role. The traditional habit of coffee drinking is a prime motivation for people of this area to meet up and socialize.

Managers can optimize operational results as it is evident that social and cultural elements are the key drivers for repeat customer visits, while regional planners can set society-driven policies.

This study contributes to the literature by using a holistic approach to understand the factors which influence revisit intentions of coffee shop clients in relation to the third place, the place attachment and the service space concepts. The research approach employed is also significant as it enabled the presentation of the real-life dynamics and its relation to the literature.

Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) aims to assist expectant mothers in low-income households. It might address the insufficient prenatal and postnatal healthcare services in rural areas of low-income nations, including Bangladesh. However, the effectiveness of such intervention is rarely investigated in rural Bangladesh. The study aims to explore the impact of CCT on certain health outcomes of expectant mothers in southwestern rural Bangladesh.

The study applied the quasi-experimental Propensity Score Matching method to assess the effectiveness of CCT in health outcomes of expectant mothers. The authors also deployed logistic regression to explore the predictors of three health issues – blood pressure, hemoglobin adequacy and morning sickness.

The Average Treatment Effect shows that the CCT program significantly improves maternal health by lowering the extent of blood pressure and morning sickness and enhancing the hemoglobin adequacy of the CCT recipient women compared to the non-recipient. The result reveals that CCT beneficiary status as well as the education and immunization are positively and significantly associated with normal blood pressure and hemoglobin adequacy. CCT is also a negative predictor of morning sickness. The study recommends to expand the coverage of the CCT program and also emphasize on the improvement of education, training and immunization for rural pregnant women.

To assist in scaling purchasing power and nutritious food for poor pregnant and lactating mothers in low-income households, “Nobojatra” project initiated the CCTs in the southwest region of Bangladesh. Yet, the impact of such cash transfers on their health outcomes is rarely explored in the context of Bangladesh. This study provides evidence regarding the effectiveness of cash transfers to pregnant women of low-income households in rural Bangladesh.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-08-2022-0512