The Partysafe project: Working with an Australian rural community to reduce alcohol harm

Partysafe was a community mobilisation project, conducted in the remote Northwest town of Carnarvon in Western Australia over a period of 18 months. The initial goal was to reduce alcohol-related harm associated with drinking in private settings. However, subsequent to the pre-intervention community survey, greater emphasis was placed on influencing males in the age range 25–45 years, because of the high risk drinking behaviour identified in this group. The intervention comprised a number of components, including local media advertising and advocacy; participation in high profile community collaborative campaigns and use of a peer character cartoon strip to highlight alcohol issues and model behaviour change. Use of local media content was particularly effective in raising community awareness as to the project's message and obtaining support for its aims. On completion of the intervention phase, process and impact data were gathered from a number of community sources. The major impact of the Partysafe project in its own right was heightened awareness of alcohol issues in the community. However, the project also contributed in a major way to institutionalising a collaborative Christmas alcohol harm prevention campaign.