Can alcohol screening and brief intervention work in a young people’s sexual health service?
The use of alcohol by young people, and its links to antisocial and risk-taking behaviour, has been the subject of much government and media attention. Links to sexual risk-taking have been shown in some studies and not in others. Sandyford offers an integrated sexual, reproductive and emotional health service across Greater Glasgow and Clyde. Within that service, The Place is a “one stop shop” for young people up to the age of 17 giving them the information to make informed choices about their own health and well being. Alcohol use and its consequences is a major concern for this sexual health service. In 2003 three hundred young people attending sexual health clinical services across Greater Glasgow were asked about their alcohol intake, and the relationship to various health and social behaviours. This revealed that a large proportion of young people in this group were drinking alcohol regularly and that regretted, unprotected sex was only one of the adverse unintended consequences
