Alcohol education courses for offenders: On the road to nowhere?

Abstract

Since 1982, alcohol education courses and programmes (AECs/ AEPs) have been developed in many local services, to meet the needs of offenders with drink problems. Such services have been established both in government (e.g. probation/social work) and non-govcrnment (e.g. Council on Alcohol) settings. Despite the recent increase in AEC provision in the UK, however, this has occurred in the absence of data about effectiveness to support such developments. Moreover, examination of programme contents of many AECs has reflected outdated and outmoded ideas about ‘alcohol education’ (i.e. information provision to change behaviour). Exploration of practitioner behaviour, among ‘alcohol educators’ who work with offenders, suggests that such service provision may be based on Zeitgeist rather than on data. A shift to more elegant and robust intervention models is proposed.