Trends in women's alcohol consumption and its effects on the family in Kirinyaga West constituency, Kirinyaga county in Kenya
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Date
2014-07-25
Authors
Mathenge, Teresia Wangeci
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Abstract
The increase in alcohol use in Central Province has raised the concern of both the public and
Government and has been identified as an acute problem. However, its increased use by women
is of greater concern since they perform very central roles in the family. This study therefore
seeks to examine whether excessive alcohol consumption by women affect families in Kirinyaga
West and seek causes of the practice. The theory adopted for the study is the systems theory of
the family advanced by Murry Bowen (1966) which explains that families are systems of
interconnected and interdependent individuals who cannot be isolated from the system, with each
member having a role to play for the wellbeing of others and rules to respect for its smooth
running, failure to which it suffers dysfunction. The descriptive survey research design will be
used whereby, centres of high alcohol preparation and consumption will be purposively selected
and the non probability method used to select 60 households and 6 sub chiefs. Interview
schedules and focus group discussions will be used to collect data on women patterns of alcohol
consumption, reasons for increased alcohol use and effects this has on the family. Data will be
presented by use of frequencies, pie charts and themes. The study is hoped to contribute to the
ongoing NACADA researches on alcohol abuse and add to academic literature how alcohol
consumption by women affect families especially in regard to the key roles that they perform. It
may also lead to the inclusion and consideration of women's alcohol consumption while making
policies such as those related to health and alcohol nationally hence useful in prioritizing targets
for prevention and intervention.