This application is in response to RFA-CD-07-005, Improving Public Health Practice Through Translation Research. Translation research characterizes the process by which proven interventions or polices are successfully adopted, implemented, and adapted in other settings. A major goal of our research is to examine the adoption, implementation, and diffusion of policies to restrict malt liquor sales in the U.S. Our three -year study has three primary objectives: (1) Determine whether the sale and consumption of malt liquor is perceived as a problem by city officials and document what has been done at the local level to restrict it. Specifically, we are interested in learning which cities have tried successfully or unsuccessfully to adopt policies to restrict malt liquor sales and consumption over the last 13 years (1995- 2007).
This aim will be accomplished by conducting a telephone survey of city officials and staff responsible for alcohol policy-making and enforcement in the 100 largest U.S. cities. (2) Compare six cities'efforts to adopt policies to restrict malt liquor sales and determine what factors were critical to their success or failure.
This aim will be achieved by conducting a retrospective, comparative case study of three cities that successfully adopted policies that restrict malt liquor sales and three cities that were unsuccessful. Study cities will be selected based on results of the telephone survey. Special attention will be given to barriers and facilitators of passage and compromises made to adopt these policies. Multiple data collection strategies will be used, including key informant interviews, documentation review, and media tracking. (3) Create a national database that provides summaries of key features of local policies that have been successfully adopted to restrict malt liquor sales on our Alcohol Epidemiology website, which is accessible to local policy makers, law enforcement officials, community groups, and researchers. The database will also include a summary of the literature on malt liquor consumption and policies to restrict its use, model ordinances that cities may wish to adapt to their communities, a summary of factors that may facilitate or impede adoption of these policies, and examples of measures that can be used to evaluate these policies. This is the first study we know to explore local efforts to reduce malt liquor sales at a national level. Results will have immediate and real-world implications for cities wishing to alleviate alcohol-related problems in inner cities.
