Abstract
This descriptive and correlational research aimed to investigate patterns of alcohol consumption, perceptions about gender characteristics and quality of life in male patients of Brazilian Primary Health Care (PHC) and to evaluate possible correlations between these variables. We performed data collection in 2013, over a six months period, in Vitória, ES, Brazil. We administered the following questionnaires to 300 men through individual interviews: Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test, Bem Sex Role Inventory, WHOQOL- Bref and socio-demographic questionnaire. Results showed that there was not a correlation between the self-assignment of masculine characteristics and alcohol consumption. Nevertheless, feminine characteristics negatively correlated to alcohol consumption. All quality of life domains, except the environmental domain, negatively correlated to alcohol consumption. The discussion highlights that the participants' answers to the questionnaires emphasized feminine characteristics and the perception of good quality of life, contrasting with social representations of low socio-economic status male patients.
Keywords:
primary health care; men; alcoholism; gender and health; quality of life