The goal of the research is to examine the role of social environment and social supports within the workplace as it relates to the development and treatment of drug and alcohol abuse. The underlying assumption of the research is that the availability and nature of social environments and supports among employed men and women play a critical role in either preventing or promoting alcohol and drug abuse. Similarly, it is hypothesized that treatment outcome will be related to the degree of supports within and outside of the individual's work organization. Social environments and supports, both in and out of the workplace, are beginning to be described and their influence studied within the broader context of alcoholism and drug abuse etiology and treatment. Consequently, this proposal seeks to investigate the dimensions of work supports and environments and their role in the development and treatment of alcoholism and drug abuse. Specifically, the research has two major components. 1. To measure the work and family social environments and support of 110 EAP alcohol and drug abuse clients in comparison to 110 employees in the same company who are not EAP clients and also not substance abusers. 2. To assess the extent to which work and family social environments and supports change after successful and unsuccessful treatment for alcohol and drug abuse in the 110 EAP clients. In addition to the two quantitative studies described above, 20 sample members will be selected in order to study their qualitative reports on the meaning of social environments and supports over time. Ten subjects will be EAP clients and 10 non-participants. An understanding of the role of work-based social environments and supports in relation to family social environments and supports will contribute to the identification and subsequent treatment of persons with alcoholism and substance abuse problems. In specific, this knowledge base will assist work-based EAP interventions to include an assessment of social environments and supports as part of their treatment protocol and to capitalize on the potential or work-based supports in the prevention and treatment of alcohol and drug abuse among employees.
