Saint Louis University

Graduate School of Nursing

Baguio City

In partial fulfillment of the requirements in the course

THEORETICAL PRINCIPLES AND STANDARDS IN GERONTOLOGY
NURSING

Output
Alcohol Use Screening and Assessment for
“
Older Adults”

Submitted by:
Joebert D. Obillo, BSN, RN

Submitted to:
Ms. Thea Liza Santos Batan

Date of Submission:
February 13, 2011
 Is the tool specific? (Does it directly assess the area under study? i.e. If the area
under study is cognition, are all the questions focused on cognition?)

I believe the tool is relatively specific. The tool asks questions that can
deliberately pertain to alcoholism. Alcohol misuse is already a growing concern
for older adults and detecting and addressing the problem is very vital (Kirchner
et al, 2007). ‘There are no standardized ways of assessing alcoholism (Rehm et
al, 1999)’ but I think, the tool is fairly specific to alcoholism.

 Is the tool complete? (Does it cover all the aspects/ dimensions of the area
under study? i.e. Are all the areas of cognition explored?)
-NO. I believe that the tool is not reasonably complete. Most of assessment tools
focus on Quantity Frequency (QF) measure of consumption(Rehm et al,1999),
the popular CAGE questionnaire on the other hand (Mayfield et al 1974) includes
items such as guilt related to heavy drinking and taking alcohol first thing in the morning,
these tools however does not attempt to assess risky levels of consumption. There is one
tool, the AUDIT questionnaire, that includes questions about the quantity and frequency
of alcohol consumption and it also assesses hazardous and harmful as well as dependent
drinking(Hodgson et al,2002)

 Is the tool easy to use? (both for the older person and the nurse)

-Yes. It is really uncomplicated to use. Unregulated and too much consumption of

alcohol among older adults is a serious medical problem and is relatively
underdiagnosed and undertreated and older adults are confined in the hospital
for alcohol associated conditions with the same rate as for myocardial infarction
and such problems will grow in magnitude as baby-boom generation ages
(Merrick et al, 2008). This tool is answerable by yes or no and alcoholism is
probably easier to diagnose with this type of tool and complications could be
prevented.

 Is the tool feasible/ applicable to the Philippine setting?

In the Philippines, the perception of health expectancy and active life expectancy
are relatively fresh and according to the analysis made with Filipino older adults
about active life expectancy, the total amount and proportion of healthy years in
comparison with the total remaining years of life decline with age for both sexes
and it may be attributed to the lower socioeconomic and higher education status
of the older adults. In particular, these people who have low socioeconomic have
lower education and are relatively exposed to a lot of risk factors that may affect
health functioning and these includes smoking and ALCOHOL abuse, lack of
exercise and work hazards(Cruz, Saito, Natividad, 2007). So, I think the tool
would be applicable and beneficial in the Philippine Setting.
References:

Internet Documents

Hodgson, R, Alwyn, T., John, B., Smith, A., Newcombe, R., Morgan C., (2002). Fast
Screening for alcohol problems: manual for the fast alcohol screening test,
retrieved February 11, 2010

Internet Periodicals

Rehm, J., Greenfield, TK., Walsh, G., Xie, X., Robson, L., Single, E., (1999).
Assessment methods for alcohol consumption, prevalence of high risk drinking
and harm; a sensitive analysis, International Journal of Epidemiology, 28,
retrieved February 11, 2010 from http://www.ebscohost.com

Kirchner, JE., Zubritsky, C., Cody M., Coakley, E., Chen, H., Ware, J., Oslin, D.,
Sanchez, H., Durtai, N., Miles, K., Llorente, M., Constantino, G., Levkoff, S.,
(2007). Alcohol consumption among older adults in primary care. Journal of
General Internal Medicine, 22. Retrieved February 11, 2010 from
http://www.ebscohost.com

Cruz, GT., Saito, Y., Natividad, JN., (2007). Active life expectancy and functional health
transition among Filipino older people, Canadian Studies in Population, 34(1),
retrieved February 11, 2010 from http://www.canpopsoc.org

Merrick, EL., Horgan, CM., Hodgkin, D., Garnick, DW., Houghton, SF., Panas, L., Saitz,
R., Blow, FC., (2008). Unhealthy drinking patterns in older adults; prevalence and
associated characteristics. Journal of American Geriatric Society, 56(2), retrieved
February 11, 2010 from http://www.ebscohost.com