Assignment: The burden of alcohol use/ Can some alcohol be healthy?
Points: 100 total (10% of the total grade)
Expected length: 2-3 pages, please not more than about 1000 words
Due: Thursday 10/6 on Canvas– please turn in a pdf or doc/docx for best results.
There are three options (plus a DIY in case you have a brilliant idea of your own); all ask you to do some synthesis of material from this week, explain the idea of “burden of alcohol use” and apply the concept. These are short response papers that should demonstrate how you are engaging in the course material and doing your own thinking about it. Therefore, you may find that you want to (re)read some of the literature that was assigned earlier for class and citing it as well as this week’s. Outside sources are allowed, but not necessary; I expect to see you use some sources from class first if you do bring additional materials into the discussions. This is a chance for you to grapple with this week’s materials in a way that interests you instead of me or the discussion leaders.
This assignment does not need to be extremely formal–I am mostly interested in seeing your thinking, clearly expressed– but do bring your “A” game to your piece if you want to see an “A” grade. Points will be assigned according to the rubric below (for example, make sure you give some attention to the “so what” factors of implications or you won’t get many of the 30 points from that scoring section).
One note: you may, if you choose, present this assignment in an alternative format, such as a slide show that combines graphics and text, or a recorded talk by you with some visuals in Prezi, or something else, if you have an idea. However, IF you do want to use an alternative format, please send me a quick message with your idea so we can come to some agreement about expectations for what you turn in.
Option 1: Gender and alcohol burden
Within this option, you have more choices for focus. You can choose to focus on alcohol burden by gender within the US (using anything from Week 4-6 plus anything relevant from earlier in the class), or you can choose to compare any two-three countries using the Week 6 materials (especially the WHO Global Status Report on Alcohol and Health report provided for reference, which reports a wide variety of indicators by gender for many countries).
Be sure to:
Define what kind(s) of alcohol use you are talking about ( and include both moderate use and heavy or binge drinking).
Discuss what you mean by “burden”.
Discuss how male and female drinking patterns are similar/different citing sources
For A, if you are focusing ONLY on the US (be sure to cite the Wilsnack “Gender differences in Binge Drinking” lit review as well as some data source– BRFSS data from Week 4 or other data– let me know if you want some help with wrangling sources)
For B, be sure to discuss the WHO Global Status report on Alcohol and Health even if you also touch on the Burden of Alcohol article.
Address the implications of these drinking patterns for men and women’s burdens of alcohol use over a lifetime:
You may also want to discuss the WHO report or the Burden of Disease publication about alcohol
The Alcohol Related Disease Impact tool might also be helpful/interesting to look at if you want to get beyond the article: https://www.cdc.gov/ARDI/
