Alcolaw. De Wet van 2009 over het verkopen en schenken van alcohol aan jongeren: stand van zaken en evaluatie

So far, the Belgian alcohol law which was introduced in 2009, has not been evaluated. Therefore, the aim of this project is sixfold. The project has 6 objectives which we refer to as Work Packages (WP):

WP 1. A critical analysis of relevant indicators of the new law of 2009 on drinking age limits which influence the behaviour of young people. Views on enforcement.

a. Existing health indicators can be used to measure the results of the change in the alcohol legislation. A multifactorial model will be set forward after a systematic review and will be adapted to the Belgian situation. This model will integrate overall and immediate indicators which can shed a light on the impact of the new legislation. The different indicators will be linked to existing data already collected and available for the government on a federal and regional level.

b. Next to the indicators, we will also focus on enforcement. It is a process evaluation whereby interviews with key figures will be used to give an overview of existing enforcement activities and of the opportunities and challenges regarding this enforcement.

WP 2. Evaluate empirically the impact of the alcohol law from 2009 on alcohol availability and consumption.

This WP will be based on WP1: the theoretical framework with linked databases will be tested in WP2. The following goals will be addressed through secondary data analysis of available databases in Belgium.

a. To investigate trends in alcohol availability and consumption over time, starting in 2002, in European countries with information available on changes in the alcohol law on drinking onset in the period 2002-2014.

b. To investigate whether the 2009 alcohol law has a different impact in different socioeconomic groups.

c. To investigate whether the 2009 alcohol law affects trends in social inequalities in alcohol consumption.

WP 3. Evaluate the knowledge of sellers and young people regarding the 2009 law.

Primary goal

a. Examine and test the knowledge of the 2009 law by young people and different groups of sellers (see sections below). Examining the knowledge of a law is a complex task, especially because we study two different populations (youths and sellers). Moreover, it could be a sensitive topic for sellers (Deakin & Spencer, 2011). Since we want to obtain standardized data, it could be worthwhile to evaluate the knowledge of the law in the same way for these two populations. Indeed, from an interactionism point of view, customers and sellers share the same environment. Up to now, studies on the knowledge of the law prohibiting alcohol sales to minors has been evaluated in the sense of sellers (e.g. Karsenty et al., 2013; Kuending et al., 2008) but not from the point of view of youths.

Secondary goal

b. Evaluate the prevalence rates and the severity index of alcohol use for young people and identify profiles (by age, gender, cultural background, type of school, neighbourhood,…)

c. Identity the specific locations where young people buy alcohol

d. Evaluate the experience with selling alcohol to underage customers for sellers and their relationships with the enforcements actors (e.g. the measurements already received in the last five years)

e. Identify the measures that sellers have already implemented to comply with the legal age limits on alcohol sales (tips and tricks to comply and difficulties to non-comply)

WP 4. Feasibility study on test purchasing research (“mystery shopping”)

In this WP a feasibility study will be performed on a protocol based on the methods of VAD and STAP (and other international models) of research on the compliance with the legal age limits of the 2009 law targeting young people below 16 years and 18 years old (cf. Gosselt et al., 2006). VAD is already doing some small studies on a local level. With this protocol purchasing attempts by youngsters are being conducted. This WP will evaluate and propose a model to use as an instrument to control the compliance of sellers. Different perspectives will be looked at before making recommendations concerning this model: ethical, legal, pragmatical, ... Subcontracting partner VAD will give access to process results of previous trials in Belgium and for the international comparison we refer to Mulder & de Greef (2013 – Eyes on age) and the contributions of STAP in our international research network. The deliverance will be a report on the feasibility of a compliance monitoring and/or a control instrument.

WP 5. A practice-based perspective on the 2009 legislation by prevention workers and health promoters

How do actors working with the changed law on alcohol consider the influence of this framework on their work? In this WP a qualitative method will be used to take into consideration the views and opinions of prevention and health promotion professionals and key persons concerning the 2009 law. We will use the Nominal Group Technique which is an expertise of the co-promoter of this WP (Vander Laenen, 2009). This technique has the purpose to generate ideas, to identify and to rank problems or issues of importance (Vander Laenen, 2009). In this WP we choose group judgments because they are preferable to individual judgments, which are prone to personal bias (Campbell et al., 2003).

WP6: General conclusions and policy recommendations