Key finding: The overwhelming majority of educators (75%) did not drink alcohol in the past 12 months; 20% are classified as low-risk drinkers; and 5.3% are high-risk drinkers. Male educators (15%) are significantly more high-risk drinkers than female educators (0.7%). Alcohol consumption patterns seem to differ by race: male coloured educators (18%) and male African educators (16%) reported the highest levels of high-risk alcohol use.
Result
Alcohol abuse has serious health and social consequences. The study examines alcohol use and its relation to quality of life, as high-risk drinking may influence the health status of educators, which in turn has an impact on the quality of education.
In comparison to low-risk drinkers, high-risk drinkers were ill more often in the month before the survey, and were absent more often from work in 2003. The study also found a strong association between alcohol- or drug-use before sex, and being HIV positive, particularly among men.
The study finds that 75% of educators did not drink alcohol for at least the past year; 20% are classified as low-risk drinkers; and 5.3% are high risk-drinkers according to the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT) scores.
Male educators drink much more (15%) than their female counterparts (0.7%); male coloured (18%) and African (16%) educators are the highest consumers of alcohol; and whereas white male educators drink less at a time, they drink most frequently (71%). It also seems that the younger the educator, the more likely they are to drink alcohol. The highest levels of high-risk drinking (15.9?16.4%) are in the male age group of 25?44, compared to the drinking habits of 45?54 year old males (12.5%).
Educators teaching in schools located in urban formal areas (15.5%), and in particular informal urban areas (23.1%), had higher high-risk drinking levels than educators teaching in schools located in non-urban or rural areas (13.7%).
The percentage of high-risk drinkers among male teachers was above 20% in five provinces (Northern Cape: 24%; Free State: 21%; North-West: 21%, Mpumalanga: 21%, and Gauteng: 20%), but much lower in the Eastern Cape (8%) and KwaZulu-Natal (12%).
The study finds that it is crucial to examine alcohol use and its relation to quality of life. High-risk drinking may influence the health status of educators, which in turn has an impact on the quality of education. In comparison to low-risk drinkers, the high-risk drinkers were ill more often in the month before the survey, and were absent more often from work in 2003.
Table 4.46: Alcohol use by South African educators in public schools, by sex and race, 2004
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Recommendations
The study recommends that the DoE works closely with the unions to develop an alcohol prevention campaign to reduce high-risk drinking among male educators, also aimed at white male educators with high levels of low-risk drinking. Such an intervention may entail written information about the risks of drinking.
Depending on the severity of the problem, high-risk drinkers may need simple advice; brief counselling and continued monitoring; and referral to a specialist for diagnostic evaluation and treatment.
The DoE should consider implementing workplace alcohol prevention programmes to include primary prevention ? which aims at keeping alcohol problems from developing and is more cost-effective ? and secondary prevention ? which seeks to reduce existing problems.