Prevalence, patterns, effects and counselling interventions of alcohol use among students in private faith based and public universities in Kenya

Abstract

Public health concern about alcohol consumption and associated risk behaviours in young people is increasing, especially among university students. Despite growing problems of global alcohol abuse among university students, accurate information on the prevalence, patterns and effects of use among university students in Kenya remains sparse. The purpose of this study was therefore to examine the prevalence, patterns, effects, and counselling interventions of alcohol use among university students in private faith based and public universities. The study employed two theories namely: Social Learning Theory and Outcome Expectancy Theory. The study was ex post facto in approach and adopted the causal comparative research design. The study was carried out in four purposively sampled universities: two public universities and two private faith based universities. The target population was 31,869 fulltime undergraduate students in the four universities, while accessible population was 19,177 fulltime undergraduate students in the main campuses of the universities. The sample was 374 students from the four universities. The staff sample consisted of 12 personnel from the departments of student affairs/welfare in the universities. The data was collected by use of a questionnaire for the students, an interview schedule for the personnel in student welfare departments/directorates, and a Focus Group Discussion with 12 members of peer counselling club in each university. Piloting was done at Meru University and Nazarene University-Meru Campus, prior to actual data collection. Cronbach’s Coefficient Alpha was computed, and α = 0.81 confirmed the internal consistency of the instrument. Data collected, was analysed by use of SPSS version 21.0. The research findings revealed high prevalence of alcohol use, with 30.5% of the students reporting current use. Majority of the respondents were low-risk alcohol users according to the AUDIT scale and 27.6% of current users met the criteria for clinically significant alcohol problem on CAGE scale. A significant relationship was found between current use and the type of university. However, being in either type of universities was not associated with past year and life-time alcohol use. Patterns of alcohol were also related to the type of university. Effects of alcohol use mostly reported by respondents included running broke, missing classes, falling sick, and feeling bad about oneself. Counselling interventions most utilized in all the universities were psycho-educational in nature, and included sensitization campaigns and trainings. The study concluded that prevalence of alcohol use among university students is high and effects are enormous to the users and non-users. Thus, the study recommends specific counselling interventions based on the levels of use because alcohol use patterns are varied among university students.