Effectiveness of Comprehensive Employee Assistance Programs at Reaching Alcoholics

Abstract

Discussion of alcohol-focused us. comprehensive programs leads to the conclusion that the primary difference between the two program models is not the disease focus but the program structure. Programs focused on alcohol problems tend to emphasize the role of supervisors in identification and confrontation; programs focused more broadly tend to emphasize the role of the employee assistance program. Data relevant to these issues suggest that supervisors are no more likely than others within industrial organizations to identify employees having alcohol problems, although confrontation by a supervisor may have a greater impact. The EAP model was found to be more prevalent among larger plants than smaller ones. Programs that saw primarily alcoholics did not in general see more alcoholics than programs that provided services for a wider variety of problems, as long as at least one-third of the client group had alcohol problems.