![Sample our Health and Social Care journals, sign in here to start your FREE access for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5938/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Health-Social-Care.jpg"})
ABSTRACT
Background: Intentional consumption of alcohol-based hand gels has been reported especially amongst non-UK national, alcohol dependent, homeless individuals in London. Whilst alcohol misuse is known to be associated with impaired cognitive functioning and mental health problems, the effects of additional ingestion of alcohol gel are unknown. Objectives: To explore cognitive and psychological functioning in users who intentionally ingest alcohol gel compared with ethyl-alcohol only misusers and controls. Methods: Male, Central and Eastern European alcohol only misusers, (n = 14; mean age 39 years), alcohol gel users (n = 14; mean age 43 years) and controls (n = 12; mean age 31 years) were recruited from a London Homeless Service during 2013/14. Alcohol misusers, alcohol gel users and controls were compared on the Forwards and Backwards Digit Span Test; Block Design test; Retrospective and Prospective Memory Questionnaire (PRMQ) and the Hospital and Anxiety Depression Scale (HADS). Results: Alcohol gel users performed significantly worse on the Block Design task (p < .01) and PRMQ (p < .01) relative to both alcohol only and control groups, and significantly worse on the digit span relative to controls (p = .01). Both alcohol misusing groups scored comparatively on digit span backwards (p < .01), with both groups performing significantly worse than controls. The alcohol gel group reported significantly higher levels of anxiety relative to controls (p = .02). Conclusions: Whilst there could be constitutional differences between alcohol misusers who additionally abuse alcohol gel, the findings suggest that alcohol gel ingestion may have a greater impact on psychological functioning than traditional alcohol misuse.
Glossary
Alcohol gel: Hand sanitizer/antiseptic liquid gel, often found in hospitals and intended to be used as a supplement to hand washing.
Cognition: A set of mental actions and/or thought processes related to knowledge, attention, memory, reasoning, language production, decision making etc.
Digit span: The longest list of digits that an individual can repeat back in correct order, immediately after presentation (digit span forward). Backward digit span involves the recall of items in reverse order.
Executive functioning: A term which encompasses the management (regulation, control) of higher order cognitive processes, such as working memory, task flexibility, decision marking and problem solving.
Frontal lobes: One of the four main brain areas/lobes located at the fore front of the brains cerebral hemisphere, involved in motor control and cognitive activities.
Prospective memory (PM): Remembering to do something at some point in the future.
Retrospective memory (RM): The learning retention and retrieval of events, words, and people encountered or experienced in the past.
Verbal working memory: The mental capacity to be able to temporarily, hold, store, and manipulate information in order to decide which information is needed to achieve a goal or solve a problem. It can be assessed with Digit Span. Some researchers use this term interchangeably with Short-term memory (STM) when specifically referring to Digit span forward (DSF).
Visuo-spatial abilities: The ability to understand and conceptualize visual representations and their spatial relationships in learning and performing a task.
Declaration of interest
The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the article.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Kirstie Soar
Kirstie Soar completed her PhD in 2006 with Professor Andrew Parrott and Dr John Turner at UEL in the School of Psychology at University of East London. She then took up a Lectureship, in the school at the University of East London where she was promoted to Principal Lecturer. She has co-ordinated the Drugs and Addictive Behaviours Research Group, within the School. Dr Soar has been conducting research on the cognitive and psychobiological effects associated with drugs for over 15 years, with her main focus on recreational polydrug use (MDMA/ecstasy, cocaine and cannabis for example) and exploration of new emerging drugs and drug trends. She has published a number of journal papers in this area and presented work at both national and international conferences. She is a Chartered Psychologist with British Psychological Association and an HEA Fellow.
Grammati Papaioannou
Grammati Papaioannou holds an MSc in Psychology from University of East London, an MSc in Counseling Studies from Hull University and a PG Cert in Dual Diagnosis from Middlesex University. She joined the Passage in 2008 as a Substance Misuse Specialist prior moving to her current role as the Team Leader of the Health Team. She previously worked for Specialist Drug and Alcohol Services and Therapeutic Communities both in the UK and in Greece. She is a member of the British Psychological Society, the Federation of Drug and Alcohol Professionals and a member of the Faculty for Homeless and Inclusion Health. Her professional interests and expertise concentrate on substance misuse, mental health and complex trauma amongst the homeless population.
Lynne Dawkins
Lynne Dawkins completed her PhD in 2001 and postdoctoral studies in 2006 in the School of Psychology at Goldsmiths College, London. She then took up a Senior Lectureship, and later, a Readership, in Psychology at the University of East London where she co-ordinated the Drugs and Addictive Behaviours Research Group. She moved to London South Bank University as an Associate Professor in Addictions in February 2016. Dr Dawkins has been conducting research in addiction, namely nicotine addiction and smoking cessation for nearly 20 years and has become one of the UK's leading authorities on e-cigarettes. She has published extensively and disseminated her findings widely via academic conferences, public lectures and online media. She is a HEA Fellow, member of the Societies for Nicotine and Tobacco Research, British Association of Psychophamacology, British Psychological Association and an Assistant Editor for the international journal Addiction.