Medical Reasons for Limiting Drinking: Data from a Sexual Health Clinic

Abstract

Background: Heavy drinking poses health risks for individuals with HIV, and some individuals with HIV attempt to reduce drinking. Little is known about whether medical reasons motivate HIV-infected individuals to reduce drinking. Objectives: We evaluated medical reasons for limiting drinking among patients in a sexual health clinic, and explored whether these reasons could be operationalized as a new scale for research and clinical use in sexual health clinics. Methods: A sample of 70 patients in a sexual health clinic who reported efforts to limit drinking in the past month (84% with self-reported HIV; 81% male; 50% Black) completed a nine-item medical reasons for limiting drinking scale on a tablet while waiting for their appointment. Exploratory factor analysis was performed to evaluate psychometric properties of the scale. Results: Patients most commonly endorsed general concerns about health, and concerns about alcohol’s effect on the liver. Support was found for a unidimensional (one-factor) eight-item scale, which evidenced good internal consistency (α = 0.84). Results were identical when analyses were restricted to the subset of 59 individuals who self-reported HIV infection. Conclusions/Importance: This study suggests that individuals in a sexual health clinic most commonly endorse broad nonspecific concerns about drinking and health, as well as concerns about their liver. This study yields an 8-item scale to measure medical reasons for limiting drinking in sexual health clinics and among individuals with HIV. This scale should enhance researchers’ ability to study this important construct and may facilitate discussion of drinking reduction with HIV-infected heavy drinkers, requiring future study.

Keywords:

• HIV
• alcohol
• drinking
• limiting
• scale

Acknowledgments

We thank Sofia Dubitsky, MS, for her assistance in data collection, and the clinic staff for their participation.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants K23AA023753 and R01AA023163, and by the New York State Psychiatric Institute. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH.