Cheers!? A project about older people and alcohol

This research explores the circumstances in which older people drink, the meaning that drinking alcohol has for them and the impact it has, acknowledging that this can be a pleasurable and positive experience, as well as something that can have adverse health, financial, personal and interpersonal impacts. The project used a participative approach and involved older people in designing and carrying out the research as co-researchers and as members of an older people's reference group. Working as a team we were able to draw on our different knowledge, experience and expertise to create contexts in which older people could talk about their experiences of drinking in ways that made sense to them. The older people who participated in this study engaged in different drinking practices which were connected to their individual circumstances and biographies and to their social and economic circumstances.