The Responsible Retailing Forum (?RRF?) seeks to develop a new intervention, Stop Service to Obviously- Impaired Patrons (S-STOP), to reduce the incidence and harm associated with overservice of alcohol. Modeled after RRF's effective program to reduce alcohol sales to minors using Mystery Shopper feedback on staff ID-checking conduct, SSTOP would (1) conduct Pseudo-Intoxicated Mystery Shop (P-I/MS) inspections of serving establishments, employing actors who seek to purchase an alcohol beverage while showing obvious signs of intoxication, (2) provide licensees with confidential feedback on actual staff conduct and a video link to view the behavior of the P-I/MS that visited their establishments, (3) provide staff with brief online training in the recognition and skillful refusal of service to intoxicated patrons, and (4) provide communities with a measure of the prevalence of overservice. The proposed study will: (1) determine the effectiveness of S-STOP in improving recognition and refusal to serve an obviously- impaired customer. To do this, we will implement S-STOP in 10 pairs of demographically matched college and university communities, employing a cross-over design. After a 3-month baseline, we will implement S- STOP in one community in each pair (Cohort 1), while the second community serves as a control (Cohort 2). After 6 months, we will end S-STOP in Cohort 1 communities but continue inspections to measure the effects of decay; and we will begin S-STOP in Cohort 2. (2) examine how licensees utilize the S-STOP program and the extent to which utilization moderates the effectiveness of the program. To do this, we will measure the number and percentage of managers who visit the S-STOP website and register their staff for training, measure the number of staff that complete the training, and conduct analyses to investigate the dose-response relationship between utilization of the S-STOP program and likelihood of overservice. (3) investigate why some owner/managers did not participate in S-STOP. To achieve this, we will interview 20 owner-managers who did not access the S-STOP website.

Public Health Relevance

'Stop Service to Obviously-Impaired Patrons (`S-STOP').' This project will test the effectiveness of S-STOP, a community-based intervention to reduce the overservice of alcohol. S-STOP uses 'Pseudo-Intoxicated' Mystery Shoppers (P-I/MS) to measure the prevalence of overservice and provide licensees with confidential feedback on their own staff conduct, a link to view the behavior of the P-I/MS, and a brief online training for staff in the recognition and skillful refusal of service to intoxicated patrons. RRForum hopes that S-STOP will reduce the incidence and harm associated with overservice of alcohol.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)
Type
Small Business Innovation Research Grants (SBIR) - Phase II (R44)
Project #
5R44AA024992-03
Application #
9552029
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZRG1)
Program Officer
Bloss, Gregory
Project Start
2016-08-10
Project End
2019-08-31
Budget Start
2018-09-01
Budget End
2019-08-31
Support Year
3
Fiscal Year
2018
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
Rrf Field Services, LLC
Department
Type
DUNS #
830663428
City
Waltham
State
MA
Country
United States
Zip Code