Rurality, Alcohol Consumption and Telehealth: Laying the Foundation for Scoping Review

Globally, the issue of alcohol consumption and health issues have attracted the attention of health practitioners, scholars, policy makers and governments across the globe. The consequences of alcohol abuse and its health implications have been recorded in both developed and developing nations. The consequences of alcohol abuse spans across disability, diseases and death in all societies from a public health assessment [1]. This is of a particular concern to Australia, where the National Drug Strategy survey, 2016 revealing that 17% of Australians aged 12 or older consumed alcohol beyond reasonable levels [2], equivalent of taking more than two standard drinks (10g of alcohol) in a day [3]. Nearly 50% of 603 online survey among young adults aged 18-24 met the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) (AUDIT) threshold [4]. A national study into the effects of alcohol on third-party in Australia suggests that about a third of Australian workers have had to endure some sort of negative impact of drinking from co-workers through extra working hours to cover for others, translating into an estimated $453 million cost to the Australian economy [5]. The severity of increasing alcohol consumption among vulnerable cohorts and its associated health consequences are on the rise. There is, however, a lack of studies that lay foundation for cumulative evidence-based cohort studies on a chosen vulnerable group. Thus, this paper is relevant and timely as it attempts to lay the ground for scoping review, systematic and meta-analytic studies focusing on alcohol consumption, young adults, rurality and telehealth.