WORKPLACE ALCOHOL PROGRAMS FOR WOMEN AND MINORITIES

员工援助计划（EAP）在美国越来越受欢迎。 所有类型的就业环境，但很少有研究估计， 这些计划或个别服务的成本和效益 他们交付。一般而言，保健服务的评价研究是 在当今经济中，鉴于健康成本不断上升， 医疗保健，物质对医疗保健市场的额外需求 以及公众要求改革国家卫生保健的压力 护理系统。EAP有可能显著影响使用 通过他们预防和治疗酒精的能力， 员工及其家属之间的滥用。由于缺乏 评估研究和EAP在医疗保健中的重要作用 市场，拟议的研究将设计和评估一个专门的 针对妇女和少数民族的工作场所酒精计划 工人们在中西部社区的三个大型工地工作。交换 议定书将包括新的和加强的外联材料， 特别是对妇女和少数民族，增加了两个新的就业援助计划， 咨询师专门研究与儿童特别相关的问题， 妇女和少数民族，修订主管，雇员和顾问 培训，以及其他一些服务。我们将整合SWAP 在每个工作场所将现有的EAP协议纳入，以确保所有 员工至少可以获得标准水平的服务， 促进评价研究结束时继续执行方案 如果我们发现它有效的话。建议的主要目标 研究是：（l）制定和执行一项SWAP协议， （2）评估SWAP协议在以下方面的有效性 EAP利用率、缺勤率、离职率、工作绩效评级、健康状况 护理费用、酗酒天数和酒精相关问题; 以及（3）估计SWAP协议的成本和成本效益。的 这项研究具有很高的意义，因为EAP很少 经过评估，目标人群在酒精方面的研究不足 研究，和EAP利用酒精相关的问题是非常 在参与的工作场所。我们的发现将提供更丰富的 了解标准和增强型EAP的成本和效益 服务研究结果也将有助于雇主、政策制定者和EAP 从业人员设计更高效和有效的工作场所酒精 程序.

Employee assistance programs (EAPs) have gained increasing popularity in all types of employment settings recently, but few studies have estimated the costs and effectiveness of these programs or the individual services they deliver. In general, evaluation studies of health services are extremely important in today's economy given the rising costs of health care, the extra demands on the health care market caused by substance abuse and HIV/AIDS, and the public pressure to reform the national health care system. EAPs have the potential to significantly influence the use of health care resources through their ability to prevent and treat alcohol misuse among employees and their dependents. Given the shortage of evaluation studies and the important role of EAPs in the health care market, the proposed study will design and evaluate a specialized workplace alcohol program (SWAP) targeted to women and ethnic minority workers at three large worksites in a midwestern community. The SWAP protocol will include new and enhanced outreach materials designed especially for woman and ethnic minorities, the addition of two new EAP counselors who specialize in issues that are particularly pertinent for women and minorities, revised supervisor, employee, and counselor training, and several other service components. We will integrate the SWAP protocol into the existing EAP at each worksite to ensure that all employees have access to at least the standard level of services and to facilitate continuation of the protocol at the end of the evaluation study if we find it to be effective. The primary objectives of the proposed study are to: (l) develop and implement a SWAP protocol at three worksites; (2) estimate the effectiveness of the SWAP protocol in terms of EAP utilization, absenteeism, turnover, job performance ratings, health care expenditures, days of heavy drinking, and alcohol-related problems; and (3) estimate the cost and cost-effectiveness of the SWAP protocol. The proposed study has a high degree of significance because EAPs have rarely been evaluated, the target populations are understudied in alcohol research, and EAP utilization for alcohol-related problems is extremely low at the participating worksites. Our findings will provide a richer understanding of the costs and benefits of standard and enhanced EAP services. The results will also help employers, policy makers, and EAP practitioners to design more efficient and effective workplace alcohol programs.