| Methods |
Controlled before and after study, unit of allocation = area. |
| Participants |
Victoria, Australia.
Experimental=City of Geelong.
Control=Greater Geelong and the metropolitan area of six other Victorian cities (Warrnambool, Mildura, Ballarat, Bendigo, Wangaratta, Morwell). |
| Interventions |
Policy intervention
Twelve‐point policy for preventing bar‐hopping and reducing violence and other crime in and around licensed premises. Development of a policy (the Accord) for premises. The focus of the policy was to reduce the movement of patrons among bars and attempt to reduce overall alcohol consumption of patrons, and contain that consumption within safer settings. Policy provisions;
1) cover charges to entry after 11.00pm
2) denial of free re‐entry to those who had exited
3) no free drinks
4) limitations on promotions
5) no extended happy‐hours
6) uniform minimum price per drink
7) enforcing of bylaws against drinking or possession of open liquor containers on the streets 8) seizing faked, altered or borrowed ID cards misused by young people
9) issuing summons for use of illegal ID cards
10) alcohol‐free entertainment provided for underage youths on selected premises
11) calling taxis or friends for rides homes
12) uniform adherence to liquor laws by service personnel.
Implementation of policy was led by the police |
| Outcomes |
Injury (serious assault rate) obtained from police records. |
| Notes |
|
| Risk of bias |
| Bias |
Authors' judgement |
Support for judgement |
| Adequate sequence generation? |
High risk |
The experimental city was chosen in response to a 'pub‐hopping' and associated crime problem. The metropolitan area of six other cities from the same state, used as the control. |
| Allocation concealment? |
High risk |
Inadequate. |
| Blinding?
All outcomes |
Unclear risk |
Serious assault data were obtained from police reports (NB the police took a lead in implementing intervention). |
| Confounders |
Unclear risk |
The pre‐intervention serious assault rate was higher in the intervention area; rate per 100,000 population, was 117 for the experimental city and 77 for the control. |
| Data collection methods |
Unclear risk |
Extracted from police records. |
| Withdrawals & dropouts |
Unclear risk |
N/A |
| Intervention integrity |
Unclear risk |
Compliance with intervention is not reported. |
| Duration of follow‐up |
Unclear risk |
Data collection periods were one year pre and four years post‐intervention. |
