2023 Evaluation of the Drinking Check: Management Response & Evaluation Report

Background  

In the first half of 2023, Drinkaware completed a series of updates to the Drinking Check, our digital identification and brief advice (IBA) tool, and the Drinking Check’s follow-up advice pages. These updates aimed to make the results more accessible and engaging for users so they could have better insight into their risk score and level, and act to change their drinking behaviour if necessary. 

Drinkaware commissioned Chrysalis Research to find out whether the Drinking Check can improve knowledge about alcohol harm amongst UK drinkers and change attitudes towards drinking from choosing to continue as before towards finding it practical to take steps, and provide recommendations for future development of the Drinking Check.  

For the evaluation, Chrysalis Research recruited a panel that reflected – as far as possible – the demography of Drinking Check users, asking panel members to complete the Drinking Check twice, approximately 4-6 weeks apart, and complete a short survey at both phases. A small number who completed the survey at each phase then participated in follow-up depth interviews.  

Drinkaware’s response to the evaluation 

The evaluation report and Drinkaware’s management response have been published on the Drinkaware website as part of our commitment to learning from evaluation, improving the Drinking Check and to be accountable to our stakeholders.  

The evaluation was well accepted by Drinkaware’s senior leadership and the Drinking Check Programme Board - made up of made up of senior leaders and managers of relevant research, digital and marketing functions - who are committed to implementing almost all of the recommendations that have been generated by reviewing the findings of the report.  

Responsibility for identifying and implementing the agreed resulting actions rests with the Drinking Check Programme Board.  

For Drinkaware’s full response to the evaluation, you can download the full management response below.  

What did the evaluation find?  

• Most people found it easy to fill in the Drinking Check accurately (90%) and honestly (88%).  

• People were positive in their attitudes towards the Drinking Check. The majority believed the result accurately reflects risk (80%) and trusted the information and advice shown about the risk level (85%).  

• There was also high levels of trust in the Drinkaware brand; 83% said it made a difference to how much they trusted the information and advice shown.  

• For those who filled in the Drinking Check for themselves, 61% intended to take some positive action about their own drinking after phase 1, and 51% reporting having done so by phase 2.  

• For those who filled in the Drinking Check for someone else, 85% intended to take some positive action about the person they were concerned about after phase 1, and 77% reported having done so by phase 2.   

• At phase 2, 48% said they would use the Drinking Check again in the next six months and 40% would recommend it to someone else.  

For more information, you can download the full report below.