New and on-going research by CONSAD and others into structural changes affecting the employee assistance (EA) field as well as a reconceptualization of CONSAD's Phase I results strongly indicate that the most pressing, unresolved informational need is for a handbook focusing in- depth on strategic, philosophic, program design and evaluation issues for an audience of senior human resources executives and professionals who must lead, grade, and manage EAPs. This handbook would present a dynamic, continuously (periodically) updated overview of the employee assistance field covering such strategic topics as: the case for employee assistance, in general; the evolution of EAP concepts; issues of controversy in the employee assistance field today; the range of current employee assistance offerings (program models and options); and EAP selection, evaluation, and monitoring. The objective of the Phase II research would be to develop and test a handbook for scientific evaluation by human resource decision-makers in their organizational settings. This draft would be evaluated and revised to provide a single, high quality source reference for the improved design, development, and evaluation of employee assistance programs, operations, and issues.
