Public Beliefs about Alcohol and Substance Use in Saudi Arabia: A Cross Sectional Study

Abuse of alcohol and other substances became a substantial and escalating health and social problem worldwide as hospitals across the world are inundated with patients suffering from conditions associated with or caused by substance use. A descriptive correlation cross section research design was utilized to conduct this study with the aim to assess the Saudi public beliefs about alcohol and substance use in central region of Saudi Arabia on a non – probability convenience sample of 316 Saudi adults who were recruited from public areas of highest community assembly points. Data were collected using a two part questionnaire. First part concerned with the participant’s demographic background and sources of information about alcohol and substance use, Second part of the questionnaire included 30 statements translated version of the Addiction Belief Inventory (ABI) Luke, Ribisl, Walton, & Davidson (2002). An official approval to conduct the study was obtained from the ethical committee of the research unit at College of Nursing – Riyadh affiliated to King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences along with an informed written consent was obtained from the participants who agreed to participate in the study. Participants who gave consent to participate in the study were individually interviewed and data were collected over a two month period. Data were coded for entry and analyzed using Statistical Package of Social Studies (SPSS) version 18.0. 22 (7%) of the participants had tried alcohol or any other substance at least once in their life. Nineteen participants (6%) had an addicted family member while 71 (22.5%) knew somebody who has addiction problem. Sources of information about addiction varied among the study participants with the internet as a source of information ranked first followed by television shows, movies and series, discussion with family and friends, school or university classes, magazines and newspapers and personal experience. Analysis of data revealed only statistically significant difference between male and female participants in relation to personal substance trial or use(X2 = 4.974, p = 0.02). The highly ranked believes among Saudi adults were: Addicted persons are capable of drinking/using substances socially (M = 4.23, SD = 0.870), a recovering addict should rely on other experts for help and guidance (M = 4.23, SD = 0.863), an alcoholic/addict must seek professional help (M = 4.22, SD = 1.015), to be healed addicted persons have to stop using all substances (M = 4.03, SD = 1.111), relapse is a personal failure (M = 4.03, SD = 1.121). Developing and implementing culturally sensitive public awareness campaigns about the hazards of alcohol and other substance use and the services available to help persons with such problems within the Saudi community in public areas of highest community assembling and throughout all media channels including TV, radio, internet, SMS messages is highly recommended Keywords: alcohol, substance use, beliefs, Saudi publi