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

Abstract

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.

Want a healthy life: A qualitative study on motivation to cease alcoholic drink addiction

“…Support shall be given either from the previously hostile environment or the new one once they can to stop. Research by Bartram et al (2019) mentioned a social environment that gives an individual involved in a positive social environment network that can accept them. The receiving environment will provide the addicts with an understanding and tend to provide support and alternatives to change into healthier behaviors and strengthen individuals' ability to meet the needs so as they can stop alcohol consumption.…”