Bartenders' and Rum Shopkeepers' Knowledge of and Attitudes Toward "Problem Drinking" in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.

Harmful alcohol use encompasses a spectrum of habits, including heavy episodic drinking (HED) which increases the risk of acute alcohol-related harms. The prevalence of HED in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) is 5.7% among the overall population aged 15 years and older and 10.2% among drinkers. Responsible Beverage Service interventions train alcohol servers to limit levels of intoxication attained by customers and decrease acute alcohol-related harms. The objectives of this study were to determine bar tenders' and rum shopkeepers' knowledge of and attitudes toward problem drinking and willingness to participate in server training. Researchers used convenience and purposive sampling to recruit 30 participants from Barraouile, Kingstown, and Calliaqua to participate in semi-structured interviews designed to explore study objectives. Results and conclusions were derived from grounded theory analysis. Heavy episodic drinking is common but not stigmatized. Heavy drinking is considered a "problem" if the customer attains a level of disinhibition causing drunken and disruptive or injurious behavior. Bartenders and rum shopkeepers reported intervening with visibly intoxicated patrons and encouraging cessation of continued alcohol consumption. Participants cited economic incentives, prevention of alcohol-related harms, and personal morals as motivators to prevent drunkenness. Respondents acknowledged that encouraging responsible drinking was a legitimate part of their role and were favorable to server training. However, there were mixed opinions about the intervention's perceived efficacy given absent community-wide standards on preventing intoxication and limitations of existing alcohol policy. Given respondents' motivation and lack of standardized alcohol server training in SVG, mandated server training can be an effective strategy when promoted as one piece of a multi-component alcohol policy.

Starting out cold.

Arriving from St Vincent to start her nurse training in 1958 was a culture shock for Shirla Philogene. But the shock was short lived.

The atrial natriuretic peptide gene and essential hypertension in African-Caribbeans from St Vincent and the Grenadines.

Atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) which alters sodium balance, blood volume and vascular tone represents an important candidate for investigating the genetic basis of essential hypertension (EH). Accordingly, we have studied Bgl1 and Xho1 restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLPs) of the ANP gene in 147 hypertensive, 141 normotensive and 67 population-based control subjects from a homogenous population of West African origin from St Vincent and the Grenadines. We found no association of either Bgl1 and Xho1 RFLPs with EH. This study suggests that the ANP locus may not exert a major gene effect on EH amongst the black people of St Vincent and the Grenadines.

Experiences of women estate workers during the apprenticeship period in St. Vincent, 1834-38: the transition from slavery to freedom.

In 1834, the British Government abolished slavery in the British Caribbean. In order to appease slave owners, the Government awarded them 20 million compensation money and initiated an apprenticeship period. The aim of the apprenticeship period was to provide a transition from slave to wage labour and tie the ex-slaves to their owners for a further six years. The apprenticeship period was marred by repressive acts by planters against their workers. Women were especially singled out for abuse and lost many of the rights they had gained during slavery. Apprenticeship was eventually abandoned in 1838. Stories of excessive cruelty convinced the colonial authorities that the working relationship between apprentices and managers within the sugar estates had not improved. This article examines the experiences of women apprentices in St Vincent to highlight the indignities that they faced. It also explores the actions that some women employed to improve their working conditions. Previous studies of the Caribbean have mainly focused on the slavery period or the twentieth century. There has so far been little attention paid to the lives of African-Caribbean women immediately after the abolition of slavery. This study helps to explain why so many women withdrew from estate work as soon as they were fully free and chose instead to concentrate on growing and marketing provision crops. During this transitionary period, it became clear to women that working conditions on the estates would not improve for them. The plantation managers' inability to adjust to free labour resulted in a significant withdrawal of female labourers after 1 August 1838.