Why do Indigenous Australians drink and drive? A qualitative exploration of self-reported influences on drink driving behaviours of Indigenous Australians from remote communities

摘要

Drink driving contributes towards high injury rates for Indigenous populations in Canada andAustralia, particularly in more isolated regions. At present there is limited research on thecultural and psychosocial factors that underpin Indigenous peoples’ drink driving. This studyis part of a broader project aiming to inform a culturally sensitive program. Qualitativeinterviews with 29 convicted Indigenous drink drivers (aged 20-51 years) from a remoteregion of Queensland, Australia were used to explore their cognitions about, and underlyingmotivation for, drink driving as well as the factors that might facilitate or impede it. Althougha number of themes were identified, this paper will focus on the first theme, respondents’self-perceived rationale for their behaviour. Two subthemes were identified: ‘being the hero’referred to situations where respondents were motivated by a bravado mentality to driveafter drinking despite having, on some occasions, the opportunity to avoid this (e.g. anotherperson offering to drive); and ‘family obligations’ which referred to situations whererespondents described pressure from members of their extended families to drive afterdrinking. The underlying responsibility for transporting family members appeared to bedifficult to avoid and related to cultural values. Findings indicate the social and individualcharacteristics for younger drink drivers are similar to mainstream populations. However,the reinforcers for Indigenous drink drivers may be different for this population, consistentwith findings on other Indigenous populations outside Australia. Specific programs shouldcontain a family-centred approach and explore the kinship value system to build strategiesaround these strong relationships.