The """"""""medicalization"""""""" of various deviant behaviors has been the subject of substantial recent attention by behavioral scientists. The proposed study would specify the nature of medical and non-medical frames of reference and the extent to which they underlie attitudes, actions and reactions toward substance abusers among four groups. Two of the groups are based in private sector work organizations: human resource executives who implement human service policy in the workplace and administrators of employee assistance programs in work organizations. The two other groups are: administrators of substance abuse treatment centers and lead or senior therapists in these centers. Workplace involvement, a """"""""new epidemiology"""""""" in terms of popular perceptions, and growth in privately-based substance abuse treatment represent together the basis for """"""""private policies"""""""" toward drug abuse emanating from the private sector on a voluntary basis. This research would focus on the conceptions of employed substance abusers among two key segments of treatment center personnel as a base for the comparison of these conceptions among policy implementers (human resource directors) and direct service deliverers (EAP counselors) in work sites with EAPs. The understanding of the role of these conceptions in """"""""gatekeeping"""""""" processes governing both entry into treatment and reentry into the workplace of employed substance abusers is crucial in the understanding of this significant new area of """"""""private policy"""""""". From our extensive prior research experience that is documented on our curricula vitae, we know that EAPs can have a substantial impact on employed problem drinkers. We know also that the workplace is increasingly concerned about employed abusers of other substances. Further, we know that EAP mechanisms, focused on constructive assistance for problems defined as job-related, can offer a substantial impact on employed substance abusers if the same constructive and performance-limited policies are applied. The conceptions of substance abuse in the workplace, especially among the key gatekeepers, are crucial in determining whether this positive application of EAPs to substance abuse can indeed reach fruition. The proposed research would also enable a determination of the relation of conceptions of substance abuse in the workplace to the four substances to be focused upon, i.e., alcohol, heroin/opiates, marihuana and cocaine.
