Workplace substance abuse prevention and help seeking: comparing team-oriented and informational training.
Employees fail to seek help for alcohol or drug (AOD) abuse because of unhealthy work climates, stigma, and distrust in Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs). To address such problems, the authors randomly assigned groups of municipal employees (N = 260) to 2 types of training: a 4-hr informational review of EAPs and policy and an 8-hr training that embedded messages about AOD reduction in the context of team building and stress management. Pre- and posttraining and 6-month follow-up surveys assessed change. Group privacy regulation, EAP trust, help seeking, and peer encouragement increased for team training. Stigma of substance users decreased for information training. EAP/policy knowledge increased for both groups. A control group showed little change. Help seeking and peer encouragement also predicted EAP utilization. Integrating both team and informational training may be the most effective for improving help seeking and EAP utilization.
Bennett
J B
JB
Institute of Behavioral Research, Texas Christian University, Fort Worth 76129, USA. j.bennett@tcu.edu
Lehman
W E
WE
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D007318:Inservice Training / Q000379:methods*; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D009786:Occupational Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010379:Peer Group; D015397:Program Evaluation; D012944:Social Support; D015206:Southwestern United States; D013240:Stereotyping; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000628:therapy; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D017132:Workplace / Q000523:psychology