22/10/2025
Share Your Voice: Help Shape a New Alcohol Support Tool for Mid-Life Women.
The SPACES project (Storytelling Promoting Alcohol Choice, Empowerment, and Sharing) is exploring new ways to support women aged 40–65 who want to reduce their alcohol consumption.
Around one in five mid-life women drink at levels that may increase health risks. Yet many hesitate to seek support due to stigma or difficulty accessing services that feel relevant and welcoming.
To address this, researchers at Oxford Brookes University and Liverpool John Moores University, in collaboration with partner organisations such as Soberistas, and an advisory group of mid-life women with lived experience, have developed a new alcohol support tool tailored specifically for this group.
This tool is grounded in real-life stories from women who have made changes to their drinking, and incorporates evidence-based strategies they have found helpful.
We are inviting mid-life women (aged 40-65) to share their views with us, help us make improvements to the new tool, and support those who want to make positive changes to their drinking practices.
Who can take part?
We’re looking for women who:
● are aged between 40 and 65 and live in the UK
● currently drink alcohol and have considered cutting down - either recently or in the past
● OR have reduced their alcohol intake in the last two years
We especially welcome participants who identify as Black, Asian, or from other non-white backgrounds, as these perspectives are currently under-represented in alcohol research.
What’s involved?
Participants will be invited to share their views in a one-to-one confidential interview, either:
● online via Zoom, or
● in-person (for those in or near Oxfordshire)
Before the interview, we’ll ask you to spend 15–20 minutes reviewing parts of a website. The interview itself will last around 45–50 minutes. In-person interviews may also include a short leaflet review.
What’s the project about?
This study is part of the SPACES research project, which has developed a new resource to support mid-life women in making changes to their alcohol use.
The resource features real-life stories from women who’ve made changes to their drinking, paired with evidence-based behaviour change tools that have worked for them.
What are the benefits of taking part?
By taking part, you’ll help us better understand how to support women in making positive changes to their drinking habits - if and when they choose to - and a token of thanks for taking part.
How do I find out more?
Please click here for more information https://sites.google.com/brookes.ac.uk/spaces/take-part or email: spacesproject@brookes.ac.uk.
Recruitment is open throughout October and November 2025.
Join our research project and help develop a new alcohol support tool for mid-life women. One in five mid-life women drink alcohol at levels that may increase health harms, but existing research about the influences on drinking for mid-life women is limited. Researchers at Oxford Brookes University