“We Were Totally Supportive, of Course”: How People Talk About Supporting a Significant Other to Stop or Reduce Their Drinking

Despite the strong influence our significant others have on health behaviors such as alcohol consumption, little is known about when they are willing to provide support for changing such behaviors. We conducted interviews with 13 Australian adults who had a partner, friend, or family member who stop...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Qualitative health research 2019-07, Vol.29 (8), p.1120-1131
Main Authors: Bartram, Ashlea, Crabb, Shona, Hanson-Easey, Scott, Eliott, Jaklin
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Aged
Alcohol Drinking - psychology
Alcohol use
Alcoholism
Australia
Behavior change
Couples
Discourse analysis
Family - psychology
Female
Health Behavior
Health technology assessment
Humans
Interviews as Topic
Male
Middle Aged
Qualitative research
Significant others
Social Behavior
Social support
Young Adult
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Despite the strong influence our significant others have on health behaviors such as alcohol consumption, little is known about when they are willing to provide support for changing such behaviors. We conducted interviews with 13 Australian adults who had a partner, friend, or family member who stopped or significantly reduced their alcohol consumption within the past 2 years, to understand how these significant others accounted for providing support for this behavior change as reasonable. Through thematic discourse analysis, we identified three types of accounts: (a) deontological, referring to duty or obligation to support others; (b) consequentialist, where costs for providing support were minimized or balanced; and (c) relational, attending to the importance of maintaining relationships. By identifying the principles people draw on to justify supporting a significant other who changes their alcohol consumption, this study enhances our understanding about when significant others are likely to support health behavior changes.
ISSN:1049-7323
1552-7557
DOI:10.1177/1049732318809945