The long-term objective of the study is to reduce the negative consequences of drinking driving episodes. This prevention effort will occur at point of sale of alcoholic beverages, the alcohol-serving establishment. The major goals are to develop cost-effective methods to reduce criminal violence and other health and social consequences of alcohol abuse with emphasis on reducing the risks associated with driving under the influence. The strategy to be tested involves training managers and servers in responsible practice. This involves both policies of the establishment and techniques used by servers to limit the intake of alcohol or control the pace at which drinks ar consumed. This approach has the support of beverage serving industry associations and has potential economic benefit to owners of alcohol-serving businesses with respect to dram shop liability. The proposed research project will apply server training to lower socioeconomic and minority establishments for the first time. Establishments catering predominantly to Black, Hispanic, Native American and Gay customers will be the target. The design will include three levels of training varying in complexity, intensity, methods of presentation, time, policy involvement, follow-up and type of trainer. Outcome measures will include: (1) server behavior; (2) customer alcohol consumption; (3) knowledge of effects of alcohol, liability laws, responsible serving practices; and (4) sales and profits. These measures will be obtained before training, immediately after training and 12 months after the initial training. Indigenous paraprofessionals will be trained to present the material and conduct the training in several of the experimental conditions. In the other conditions training will be conducted by some of the leading individuals in the field. There will be five training conditions representing three levels of training and a control (two levels will have tow conditions). The major focus of the analyses will be on the cost-effectiveness and the marginal cost-effectiveness of the variations in training in the four minority communities.
