The proposed study will evaluate effects of an enhanced and expanded version of the Alcohol Risk Management (ARM) program, a four-session responsible beverage service training program for managers of on-premise alcohol establishments (i.e., bars, restaurants). ARM is a one-on-one training program that provides managers with the knowledge and skills necessary to develop responsible, establishment-specific, alcohol service policies. By influencing establishment policies, the ARM program aims to reduce illegal alcohol sales to obviously intoxicated patrons-and ultimately, to lower rates of related problems such as violence and traffic crashes. In our previous randomized trial that evaluated ARM, we observed reductions in likelihood of illegal alcohol sales to obviously intoxicated patrons one month following the training, but the effects decayed within three months. We propose to expand and enhance the training program based using Social Cognitive Theory to magnify immediate effects and sustain the effects by creating a hybrid version of ARM that includes both in-person and online training (e-ARM). e-ARM will address limitations of the earlier version of the program in several ways, including by involving more managers per establishment in the training, including ongoing online interactions (e.g., tips/reminders, discussion boards with other participants, news updates, etc.), and an online server training tool. We will conduct a randomized, controlled trial to assess the short and long-term effects of e-ARM on likelihood of reducing illegal alcohol sales to obviously intoxicated patrons and risky practices that lead to heavy consumption of alcohol.
Alcohol use is related to many public health problems. To prevent these alcohol-related problems, we have developed a training program for managers of bars and restaurants to prevent illegal sales to patrons who are obviously intoxicated. We are proposing to evaluate this training program to see whether the program decreases the likelihood of alcohol sales to obviously intoxicated patrons and promotes establishment environments that may lead to lower consumption of alcohol.
