According to the preliminary results from an Ensuring Solutions survey about workplace alcohol screening and brief intervention (SBI), employers and behavioral health vendors are doing more to address workplace alcohol issues. More than 60 percent of behavioral health vendors surveyed have reviewed the adequacy of their alcohol treatment products and services in the last two years. Almost three-quarters of the vendors conducting reviews made specific changes to better address alcohol-related problems. Approximately 40 percent of employers responding to the survey reported that their companies assessed the adequacy of alcohol treatment benefits. Forty-three percent of these employers made specific changes to improve access to alcohol treatment.

The biennial Workplace Alcohol SBI Survey is a Web-based survey designed to gather information about workplace screening and brief intervention efforts in the United States. The most recent survey (2007-2008) gathered information from 110 behavioral health vendors and almost 500 employers.

In other preliminary results, more than 80 percent of employers report being “very” or “moderately” concerned about employee alcohol problems and about 50 percent expressed interest in developing an SBI program. Examples of changes made by employers to improve access to treatment include adding employee assistance programs (EAPs), revising alcohol and drug policies, and disseminating educational materials. Vendors added services such as 24/7 telephonic support, inpatient and outpatient substance use treatment, and alcohol-related disease management programs.

“Results from the first survey showed that among the relatively few employers that routinely and systematically implemented SBI, there were two predominant approaches to workplace SBI- an occupational health/wellness approach and bioassay testing approach – both of which relied on connecting employees with their EAP provider” says Tracy McPherson, PhD, an assistant research professor at The George Washington University Medical Center and survey director. “One goal for our most recent survey was to find out if more employers are using SBI techniques and whether they are making changes to policies and practices that improve access to alcohol treatment.”

The full report analyzing the survey data will be released in July 2008. Ensuring Solutions also offers a variety of resources in the Workplace SBI Toolkit. For more information about the survey findings and Ensuring Solutions' Workplace SBI Initiative, please contact Dr. Tracy McPherson at tracym@gwu.edu or 202-416-0413.