Alcohol misuse has long had devastating effects on health and wellbeing in rural and remote communities in Australia, among both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non-Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander residents.

A report commissioned by Menzies and released in late 2010, showed that the cost per person of alcohol-related harm in the Northern Territory (NT) is more than four times the national level.

The total social costs of alcohol consumption in the NT in 2004-05 were estimated at $641.8 million, including healthcare costs of $39.7 million and costs from road accidents of $36.6 million. This equated to $4197 for each adult in the NT, compared to a national cost of $943 per adult.

Our research focus:

• To translate research into policy to reduce alcohol related harm
• To work with communities to improve health care services
• To work with those directly affected by alcohol misuse
• To investigate the causes, patterns and impacts of alcohol-related brain impairment.

Our research impact:

• Developed appropriate evaluation strategies for informed public health policy on substance misuse
• Evaluated the Alcohol Management Plans for Alice Springs, Tennant Creek, Katherine and East Arnhem
• Improved community understanding of alcohol misuse
• Informed treatment for alcohol misuse and related conditions.

Key staff:

• Professor Peter D’abbs
• Dr Kylie Dingwall
• Professor Tricia Nagel
• Professor James Smith

Collaborators:

• Northern Territory Government
• Northern Territory Research and Innovation Board
• Alice Springs Hospital
• Melbourne University
• Remote Alcohol and Other Drug Workforce.

• Demand Study for Alcohol Treatment Services in the Northern Territory
• Social and Economic Costs and Harms of Alcohol Consumption in the Northern Territory
• Banned Drinker Register (BDR) | Twelve Month Impact Evaluation
• Banned Drinker Register (BDR) | Six Month Process Evaluation
• Cognitive response to thiamine replacement therapy in alcohol affected patients
• Evaluation of the Revised Katherine Alcohol Management Plan
• Optimum Thiamine Intervention (OpT In) for the treatment and prevention of Wernicke Korsakoff’s Syndrome: A RCT
• PACT - prevention of alcohol related crime and trauma
• START - screening and treatment of alcohol related trauma brief interventions trial
• Place-based Framework for Monitoring and Evaluation Alcohol Management Plans and other Alcohol Initiatives in the Northern Territory
• All Good Evaluation 
• Mandatory Alcohol Treatment review

1. d'Abbs, P. (2012). Problematizing alcohol through the eyes of the other: Alcohol policy and Aboriginal drinking in the Northern Territory, Australia. Contemporary Drug Problems, 39(3), 371-396.
2. Hinton, R., & Nagel, T. (2012). Evaluation of a culturally-adapted training in Indigenous mental health and wellbeing for the alcohol and other drug sector. ISRN Public Health.
3. Jayaraj, R., Thomas, M., Kavanagh, D., d'Abbs, P., Mayo, L., Thompson, V., Griffin, C.  & Nagel, T. (2012). Study Protocol: Screening and Treatment of Alcohol-Related Trauma (START) - a randomised controlled trial. BMC Health Services Research, 12(1), 371.
4. Dingwall, K. M., Maruff, P., & Cairney, S. (2011). Similar profile of cognitive impairment and recovery for Aboriginal Australians in treatment for episodic or chronic alcohol use. Addiction, 106(8), 1419-1426.
5. d'Abbs, P., & Chenhall, R. D. (2013). Spirituality and religion in responses to substance misuse among Indigenous Australians. Substance Use & Misuse, 48, 1-16. doi: 10.3109/10826084.2013.800746
6. Nagel, T., & Griffin, C. (2010). Promoting Self-management in Indigenous People with Mental Illness and Substance Misuse. International Journal of Psychosocial Rehabilitation, 15(2), 85-90
7. d'Abbs, P. (2004). Alignment of the policy planets: behind the implementation of the Northern Territory (Australia) Living With Alcohol programme. [Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't]. Drug and Alcohol Review, 23(1), 55-66. doi: 10.1080/09595230410001645556
8. d'Abbs, P., & Togni, S. (2000). Liquor licensing and community action in regional and remote Australia: a review of recent initiatives. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, 24(1), 45-53.
9. d'Abbs, P. (1998). Out of sight, out of mind? Licensed clubs in remote Aboriginal communities. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, 22(6), 679-684.
10. d'Abbs, P. (2010). Controlling 'rivers of grog': the challenge of alcohol problems in Australian Indigenous communities. Contemporary Drug Problems, 37, 499-524. 

Click here to view more alcohol publications in PubMed.

• Liquor permits as a measure for controlling alcohol problems: a literature review
• Review of Liquor Permit schemes under the NT Liquor Act: Final Report
• PACT Protocol Manual
• The grog brain story - flipchart
• The grog brain story - video animation
• Yarning about alcohol
• Submission to the select committee on action to prevent foetal alcohol spectrum disorder 
• An evaluation of the Gove Peninsula Alcohol Management System