The purpose of this project is to develop a standardized, comprehensive screening instrument for use in employee assistance programs. Employee Assistance Programs (EAP) are addressing an increasingly broad variety of employee health and adjustment problems, including drug and alcohol abuse, emotional and psychological problems, stress, family and marital problems, financial problems and legal problems. A central function of the EAP Counselor is to screen/assess the nature of the employee's problem and refer the employee to appropriate treatment. Currently, however, there exists no standardized instrument capable of assessing the majority of employee problems. During Phase I a draft screening instrument was developed in preparation for a rigorous series of scale construction and validity analyses in Phase II. Considerable evidence was also collected supporting both the technical feasibility and the eventual commercial viability of such an instrument. During Phase II, the screening instrument will first be subjected to scale construction analyses designed to ensure that items and scales are psychometrically sound (cohesive and reliable). The instrument will then be administered to a national sample of EAP clients, on which criterion data will also be collected. Validity analyses (criterion and construct) will then be conducted on these data, culminating in a standardized comprehensive EAP screening instrument ready for commercial application.
