Levels of awareness

According to a survey, conducted by Environics, of Ontario women of childbearing age in July 2004, there are high levels of awareness about the risks of alcohol use in pregnancy.

Best Start contracted Environics to complete a phone survey before and after the May 2004 campaign about alcohol and pregnancy. The pre and the post surveys each involved a total of 340 women aged 18 to 40 years of age. The margin of error was plus/minus 5.3 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. For information about changes in the levels of awareness, see Evaluation Results.

Both the pre and the post results showed high levels of awareness. Levels of awareness in the post campaign survey (July 2004) are listed below. Results may have implications for program planning.

87% agreed that alcohol use in pregnancy can lead to life long disabilities in a child
66% felt that women can safely drink "no alcohol at all" in pregnancy, 29% "very little" and 4% a "moderate amount"

With regard to "prenatal alcohol exposure":
97% thought it could cause difficulties learning
96% thought it could cause brain damage
92% thought it could cause trouble with school
91% thought it could cause slow growth
91% thought it could cause difficulty remembering things
85% thought it could cause alcohol and/or drug use
84% thought it could cause damage to internal organs
77% thought it could cause difficulty getting along with others
71% thought it could cause trouble keeping a job
70% thought it could cause trouble with the law
70% thought it could cause fingers and/or limbs not properly formed
69% thought it could cause trouble seeing
65% thought it could cause birth defects
64% thought it could cause trouble hearing