Effectiveness of a Community-Based Intervention to Increase Supermarket Vendors' Compliance with Age Restrictions for Alcohol Sales in Spain: A Pilot Study

Abstract

In Spain the legal age to buy alcohol is 18 years. However, official surveys show that minors perceive alcohol availability to be easy. This paper describes the impacts of a community-based intervention to increase vendors' compliance with age limits regarding alcohol sales in supermarkets. The aim of this study was to explore the association between implementation of a multicomponent intervention to reduce adolescents' alcohol use and sale of alcohol to minors in the city of Palma (Spain). Twenty trained adolescents (14-17 years old) conducted 138 alcohol test purchases in nine supermarket chains in August 2018 (baseline; n = 73) prior to the intervention, and again in January 2020 (follow-up; n = 65). Analysis was conducted according to three levels of intervention implemented across the supermarkets: (i) personnel from the supermarkets' Human Resources or Corporate Social Responsibility teams received alcohol service training as trainers (i.e., community mobilization); (ii) managers and vendors training by the capacitated trainers; and (iii) no training of managers or vendors (i.e., control group). In the supermarkets that completed the Training of Trainers and the vendors' training program, average sales decreased significantly from 76.9% in 2018 to 45.5% in 2020, asking for the age of the shopper significantly increased from 3.8% to 45.4%, and asking for proof of age significantly increased from 15.4% to 72.7%. Additionally, a statistically significant increase was observed in the visibility of prohibition to sell alcohol to minors' signs, from 61.5% to 100%. No statistically significant differences were found for the Training of Trainers intervention alone nor in the control group. In conclusion, community mobilization combined with staff training is associated with significant increases in supermarket vendors' compliance with alcohol legislation in Spain.

Keywords: adolescents; alcohol; community mobilization; community-based intervention; multicomponent intervention; mystery shopping; vendors’ compliance.

Figure 1

Proportion of supermarket visits by year and type of training. (A) Proportion of supermarket visits where minors were asked for their age and (B) proportion of supermarket visits where vendors asked for an ID card. * = statistically significant differences were found.

Figure 2

Proportion of supermarket visits by year and type of training. (A) Proportion of supermarket visits where underage alcohol warning signs were visible and (B) proportion of alcohol sales to minors. * = statistically significant differences were found.