People with alcohol dependence syndrome: Perception of the causes

INTRODUCTION. Alcohol Dependence Syndrome (ADS) and its consequences constitute a serious public health problem, representing a high social cost and compromising several areas of health of the person with ADS, with few nursing studies in this area. OBJECTIVE. To describe the perception that people with ADS have about the cause(s) of the disease and re$ect on the nursing interventions. METHODS. Descriptive, cross-sectional and correlational study. Convenience sample consisting of 444 people with ADS. The sociodemographic, the clinical questionnaire and the last section of the Revised Illness Perception Questionnaire (IPQ-R), which assesses the causes of ADS, were used as instruments. We used exploratory and descriptive analysis. RESULTS. Most of the people are male, with 45 years on average, married, unemployed and were diagnosed seven years ago on average. Participants believe that psychological aspects (M = 14.87, SD = 3.24) and personal aspects (M = 7.07, SD = 1.85) are the main causes of ADS. CONCLUSIONS. Participants attributed the cause of ADS to external factors, which reduces personal responsibility, as well as confusing the causes and consequences. These results reinforce nursing importance to promote mental health literacy and maintaining abstinence.