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Unit 14260: Demonstrate knowledge and skills to make safe choices…..
HEALTH EDUCATIONDemonstrate knowledge and skills to make safe choices in situations involving alcohol
Unit Standard 14260 Version 2
Level 1 Credit 3
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Learner Workbook
Unit Standard 14260 Version 2 Specification
Demonstrate knowledge and skills to make safe choices in situations involving alcohol
Elements and Performance Criteria
Element 1
Describe the effects of alcohol on the body.
Range: a minimum of three effects with at least one short-term effect and one long-term effect.
Performance Criteria
1.1 Description identifies physical effects of alcohol on the individual.
1.2 Description identifies behavioural effects of alcohol on the individual.
1.3 Description identifies and explains emotional effects of alcohol on the individual.
Element 2
Investigate the use of alcohol in New Zealand society.
Performance Criteria
2.1 Investigation establishes reasons for use and non-use of alcohol in New Zealand society.
2.2 Investigation establishes messages from different viewpoints related to alcohol use.
Range: minimum of four messages from message givers which may include but are not limited to - religion, health promotion agencies, media, advertising, sporting bodies.
2.3 Investigation identifies alcohol related problems in New Zealand society.
Range: two of individual and/ or societal problems which may include but are not limited to - alcoholism, domestic violence, drink/driving, financial, effects on physical health.
Element 3
Use a decision making model to make safe choices in situations involving alcohol.
Performance Criteria
3.1 Influences on decisions about alcohol use are identified.
Range: include but are not limited to; drink/drive, peer pressure, family, legal.
3.2 A decision making model is used to make a decision in an alcohol related problem or scenario.
Element 4
Explain laws, policies and procedures that relate to alcohol.
Performance Criteria
4.1 Explanation identifies laws relating to alcohol in New Zealand.
Range: purchase, consumption, supply, drink/drive.
4.2 Explanation identifies policies and procedures of a school, or workplace or institution relating to alcohol.
What is Alcohol?
Element 1 Describe the effects of alcohol on the body.
1.1 Description identifies physical effects of alcohol on the individual
1.2 Description identifies behavioural effects of alcohol on the individual
1.3 Description identifies and explains emotional effects of alcohol on the individual
Alcohol is a chemical and has many different forms. The alcohol human’s drink (ethyl alcohol) is a natural chemical that is produced when a little bug called yeast combines with sugar.
There are three different types of alcoholic drinks. See if you can complete the table below by naming the three forms and then give an example of each.
Alcoholic Drink / ExampleBeer / Speights Old Dark
Alcohol also has lots of other names. Brainstorm with the person beside you and see how many you can come up with. Write them in the space below.
Alcohol is a drug. In fact the doctors call it a sedative-hypnotic drug because it slows down the central nervous system. This is what causes people to become uncoordinated and clumsy.
Alcohol affects different people in different ways. It can affect us both physically and emotionally. It also affects the way we behave.
Physical Changes
On the picture of the body below, see how many physical effects of alcohol you can note.
Some of the physical effects of alcohol on our body are short term. These include things like our skin going red or our speech slurring. Other physical effects of alcohol are more serious and long term in nature.
Alcohol abuse can result in both short and long term memory loss, and liver, heart, pancreas and stomach damage. It can even reduce the ability of men to get an erection!
Behavioural Changes
Alcohol can also alter our behaviour. One of my best friends, for example, was very shy when he wasn’t drinking. After a couple of beers, his behaviour changed and he became very outgoing. As he drank more, his behaviour changed again and he became quite violent, even toward his friends.
Think once again about some of the behavioural changes you have noticed
as people begin to drink alcohol. What have you noticed? Note them in
the space below.
Behavioural changes when someone drinks alcohol:Goes to sleep
Once again these changes in behaviour can be both short term and long term. Short-term changes can be things like a person becoming more confident or more talkative after a couple of drinks. Long-term behavioural changes can include depression, being unreliable, not turning up for work, or getting into trouble with the law. Some people become addicted to alcohol and may steal or lie to get money to support their addiction. Others become secretive and hide their booze.
Emotional Changes
Alcohol also affects our emotions.
Think of the last time someone you knew had too much to drink. How did their emotional state change? Write them in the boxes below.
Once again, these effects can be both short term and long term. Short-term effects include things like a person becoming bolder after a couple of drinks or a person bursting into tears over nothing.
Long-term effects of alcohol on the emotions are more dangerous and more damaging. These include things like depression (sometimes resulting in suicide); co-dependency with your partner and alcohol related mental illnesses.
Alcohol has the effect of relaxing people and reducing their inhibitions. This means that after a few drinks people will often do things that they normally wouldn’t. For example shy people, often become quite bold.
In other people, anger that is suppressed when sober, will sometimes be expressed when the person has had a few drinks.
Use of Alcohol in New Zealand
Element 2 Investigate the use of alcohol in New Zealand society.
2.1 Investigation establishes reasons for use and non-use of alcohol in New Zealand society.
2.2 Investigation establishes messages from different viewpoints related to alcohol use.
2.3 Investigation identifies alcohol related problems in New Zealand society.
We are often given the impression that everyone is drinking and everyone who drinks, drinks to excess. But how much are we drinking and what does society think about alcohol? There are different viewpoints from various groups.
Some of these different organisations include: religious groups, health promotion agencies, the media, advertising and sporting bodies. We will look at some of these different views later on in this section.
Alcohol is widely used in New Zealand. 89% of men and 85% of women over the age of eighteen consume some alcohol each year. However not everyone drinks or if they do drink, they drink only occasionally and usually not to excess.
People drink or don’t drink for various reasons. Some people drink because they feel the pressure from their friends to drink. Other people drink because they like the taste of the drink.
However, people who are driving a car might choose not to drink when they take their car to a party. Still others may never drink.
Read the questionnaire below very carefully and fill it out by yourself. You need to be familiar with the content because you will be required to question five people using this questionnaire in your Assessment Booklet.
Questionnaire – Investigate the use of alcohol in New Zealand society.
Male Female Age:
(tick one box)
1. Do you drink alcohol? yes / no (circle one)
(If the answer is no, answer only questions 2 and 5 and 6. If the answer is yes, answer questions 3, 4 5 and 6).
2. I choose not to drink alcohol because:
3. I choose to drink alcohol because:
4. Sometimes I choose not to use alcohol because:
5. My decision to drink/not to drink has been influenced by messages from:
(Tick those that apply)
Religion
Health promotion agencies
Media
Advertising
Sporting bodies
Give details of the messages you received from these groups relating to alcohol use:
6. Alcohol consumption has caused the following problems either in my own life, or in the lives of others I know: (Please identify below)
Each of us has had different experiences of alcohol, both good and bad. Sometimes we make mistakes because we follow the crowd or try to impress our friends. How can you deal with these pressures if you do not want to drink?
Break into groups of three or four. In your group, discuss some strategies that you could use to avoid the pressure to drink with friends. Write down your ideas in the boxes below.
Think for a moment about the reasons why you do or do not use alcohol. There may be other times when you choose not to drink (e.g. if you are driving). Note down the reasons in the table below.
It makes me relaxed / I have had enough to drink (I am feeling out of control) / It is the cause of lots of problems
It makes me go crazy
Conflicting Messages
In New Zealand society, we get all sorts of messages about alcohol use and some very powerful arguments for it’s use or non-use. These messages range from groups who are constantly dealing with the effects of alcohol abuse (e.g. the Salvation Army) to groups who are trying to sell more alcohol (e.g. the beer companies).
The media sends conflicting messages such as “if you drink and drive you are an idiot” or television ads which tell us to drink more.
Other groups want to ban all forms of alcoholic drinks from society (e.g. temperance societies). Your peers may say “getting drunk is great” (e.g. groups of friends from school or work). It can be difficult to make sense of all these mixed messages. Who do you turn to, in order to make sensible decisions about alcohol?
Think about the messages you have heard about alcohol. Fill in the diagram below stating what each message is and where it came from. One message has been given to get you started.
In the space below, write down some of the messages that you have received from your own parents/guardians about alcohol/drinking. Do you consider these views to be too strict, reasonable, or perhaps too tolerant of drinking?
The Impact of Alcohol
The negative messages we are given by some groups in New Zealand society are certainly justified. Alcohol related problems in New Zealand cost us (i.e. you and me) between $1-4 billion per year! This compares with a benefit to our economy of only $2.8 billion per year.
Look at the list of facts below about alcohol related problems in New Zealand society.
Motor Accidents
On average one person is killed every two days in alcohol related crashes. About 30% of all road deaths involve drinking drivers.
Violence
10% of men and 5% of women have been physically assaulted in the last year by someone who has been drinking.
Hospitalisation
Each year 1.6% of males and 0.4% of females who are hospitalised are there because of alcohol related causes.
Work Performance
Employers annually lose hundreds of millions of dollars through absenteeism and poor productivity caused by the effects of people drinking too much.
Death
There are over 400 non motor vehicle deaths every year due to heavy drinking.
Family Break Ups
Agencies working with family break ups say that alcohol abuse (and it’s subsequent problems) is one of the major factors in family break ups.
These are pretty frightening statistics aren’t they. It seems quite likely that all of us by the time we are twenty will know personally someone who has either been killed in an alcohol related accident or who has died from an alcohol related disease!
Making Safe Choices
Element 3 Use a decision making model to make safe choices in situations involving alcohol.
3.1 Influences on decisions about alcohol use are identified.
3.2 A decision making model is used to make a decision in an alcohol related problem or scenario.
Decisions, Decisions, Decisions
As we grow up we are given more freedom to make
choices for ourselves. This is especially so when it
comes to the use or non-use of alcohol. There are a
number of factors that influence our decisions about whether
we use or don’t use alcohol.
When I sat down and thought about my decision to drink I came up
with eight different things that influenced my decision.
They are things like:
Family / My parents don’t like me getting drunk.Culture / My culture says it is good for men to drink OR my culture says that drinking is wrong.
Friends / I drink when I am with certain friends to show that I am part of their group.
Driving / I don’t drive if I have had more than one standard drink in the last hour.
Desire / I don’t drink if I don’t feel like it.
Legal / I don’t drink if I am under age.
Church / I don’t drink to excess because my faith says that it’s wrong.
Health / I don’t drink when I am sick or when I am using anti histamines or anti depressants.
Whether you are at home, at a school/work party or even just going out to dinner, it is likely you will be faced with the decision as to whether or not you should drink.
The diagram on the next page will help you think through the options and the consequences so that you make good, safe decisions.