MEPMIS

Publications

All - 2011 - 2010

Results 1 to 10 out of 45.

• 07/09/2010 - Guidance on alcohol and drug misuse in the workplace
  This guidance is intended to give pragmatic support to occupational physicians in addressing problems of alcohol and drug misuse in the workplace. It sets out the actions to be taken, in the face of difficult situations, and aims to help the occupational physician to ensure a fair and consistent approach. Whilst aimed primarily at occupational physicians, this guidance will also be of assistance to other healthcare professionals, managers, employees, human resources staff and trade union representatives. It explains why and how a workplace policy should be implemented, whether to test for alcohol and drugs and how this should be carried out, fitness for work and rehabilitation. In the course of this, the guidance refers to the ethical and legal aspects of dealing with alcohol and drug problems at work, and clarifies roles and procedures.
• 07/09/2010 - Management of alcohol- and drug-related issues in the workplace: an ILO code of practice
  This document describes a code of practice on the management of problems related to alcohol and drugs in the workplace. The practical recommendations contained in this book are intended to provide guidance to all those who have responsibility for addressing alcohol- and drug-related issues at the workplace.
• 07/09/2010 - Collective agreements (CAO's)
  In some collective agreements (CAO's) provisions are included on drinking during working hours. Mostly reflecting specific laws on: Road Traffic [WegenVerkeerswet]: It is forbidden to drive with a blood alcohol content (BAC) greater than 0.5 Air Cargo [Luchtvaartwet]: Airport Staff must not drink alcohol in the ten hours of work. It is also forbidden to perform work at a BAC greater than 0.2 Navigation Acts [Scheepvaartwet]: It is forbidden to sail a ship or a sea route; to drive as a pilot on board these ships as the master / operator or to advise on the movement to implement navigation, with a BAC greater than 0.8 Beverage and Catering[Drank- en Horecawet]: When alcohol is available in a workplace which employees people aged under 16 years, employers can face criminal proceedings. The Beverage and Catering Act prohibits serving or selling alcohol to people under sixteen years. This law is based on a fine for the provider, not the drinker.
• 07/09/2010 - Alcohol drinking as an issue in the workplace [chapter in:] Workplace Health Promotion. Selected programmes.
  Alcohol is an area where intervention is needed in a workplace. A short explanation of general problems associated with alcohol is provided along with the concept of AA together with Employee Assistance Programmes. Rules and procedures of the WHO, the ILO and the UN model for alcohol and drugs’ control programmes are described. The chapter focuses on models and experiences of western countries. However, this resource covers more general guidelines.
• 07/09/2010 - Achieving professional change : from training to workforce development
  Issues: The traditional approach to increasing the capacity of health and human service professionals to deliver alcohol, tobacco and other drug interventions has been to build relevant knowledge, skills and attitudes through the provision of education and training. However, as a stand alone strategy, education and training is likely to have limited impact. Approach: This paper examines not only the features and characteristics of successful training programs and approaches, but also the wider array of systems and structural factors that might act as impediments to the implementation of new knowledge, skills and clinical behaviours. Key Findings: There is a constellation of factors that extend beyond traditional notions of 'training' that fall under the rubric of 'workforce development'. Implications and Conclusions: A workforce development approach requires three levels of action-system-wide, capacity building and professional development to ensure effective responses
• 07/09/2010 - Assessment of binge drinking of alcohol in highly educated employees
  This study evaluated the usefulness of the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) and CAGE, a standardized screening instrument for detecting alcohol dependence in identifying binge drinking among highly educated employees. Brochures were mailed to an entire workforce inviting employees to learn about their coping strategies, stress levels, and risk for alcohol-related problems, with 228 employees providing complete data. Binge drinking in the previous 3 months was reported by 29% of the employees, with greater binge drinking reported by White employees, of mixed/other ethnic background, or younger. The AUDIT achieved a sensitivity of 35% in identifying respondents who reported binge drinking and a specificity of 98% in accurately identifying respondents who did not report binge drinking. Sensitivity using the cut-off of scoring one or more positive hits on the CAGE was 67%, and specificity was 84%. Therefore, neither the AUDIT nor the CAGE achieved adequate sensitivity, as well as specificity, as screening tools for assessing binge drinking. A more accurate method for assessing binge drinking appears to be by directly asking for the largest number of drinks consumed in a single drinking session
• 07/09/2010 - Employees' reactions to an interactive website assessing alcohol use and risk for alcohol dependence, stress level and coping
  Objective: We assessed employee's reactions to using a website-based intervention designed to identify moderate and high-risk drinkers and to reduce their problematic drinking. Methods: One hundred and eighty-seven participants completed a prewebsite-intervention survey, website intervention, and a follow-up survey assessing participants' reactions to the website. The website provided feedback regarding participants' alcohol use, risk of lifetime or current alcohol dependence, stress level, and coping style. Participants identified as at 'low' or 'moderate' risk for alcohol-related problems were randomly assigned to receive either 'limited individualized feedback' or 'full individualized feedback'. High-risk participants were given the full individualized feedback intervention. Results: Twenty-three per cent were identified to be at high risk of having alcohol-related problems, and 17% were at moderate risk. Most participants viewed the site information as interesting and easy to use. High-risk participants were more interested in alcohol-related information than were other participants. Eight per cent of the respondents reported a change in their drinking with this brief intervention. Conclusion: These findings demonstrate the potential of the Internet to attract and engage persons who are high- or moderate-risk for alcohol-related problems in learning more about their risk as well as about their stress and their strategies for coping.
• 07/09/2010 - Impact of an alcohol misuse intevention for health care workers -2: employee assistance programme utilization, on-the-job injuries, job loss and health services utilization
  Aims: This study evaluated the effects of an enhanced substance misuse (SM) prevention/early intervention programme on referrals to an employee assistance programme, health care utilization rates, on-the-job injury rates and job termination rates among health care professionals employed in a managed care organization. Methods: The intervention was implemented at one site, with the remaining sites serving as the comparison group. Existing data from hospital databases were used to compare events occurring in the periods before and after initiation of the intervention. To account for baseline differences in age, gender and job class, logistic regression models produced adjusted means for events per employee month-at-risk. Results: We found that employee assistance referrals and non-SM-related in-patient hospitalizations increased significantly post-intervention, while rates of total out-patient SM-related visits decreased at both the intervention and comparison sites post-intervention. There was a small, statistically significant decrease in the monthly rate (OR = 0.92) of non-SM out-patient utilization at the intervention site, once the intervention was in place. No differences potentially attributable to the intervention were detected in job turnover or injury rates. Conclusions: We conclude that, while the intervention did not appear to affect health care utilization for SM-related problems, it was associated with increased referrals for employee assistance
• 07/09/2010 - Positive and negative effects of social support on the relationship between work stress and alcohol consumption
  OBJECTIVE: This study was performed to evaluate both positive and negative influences of social support on the relationship between work stress and alcohol consumption in male white-collar workers. METHOD: This study was performed in a population of male white-collar workers in Osaka, Japan. The subjects (N = 661) were categorized into nine subgroups based on the moderated mediation model of Frone and on the results of signal detection analysis using chi-square parameters calculated from work stressors and depression (mediators). Hierarchical linear regression analyses were performed among the nine subgroups to test the effects of interactions between four types of social support (i.e., two types of belonging support and two types of appraisal support) and work stress on alcohol consumption. RESULTS: Our results verified that social support has both positive and negative effects on the relationship between work stress and alcohol consumption: (1) interactions between "belonging support (1)" and depressive symptoms were related to decreased alcohol consumption in two subgroups (p < .01 in Group 1 and p < .05 in Group 6), whereas the interaction was related to increased alcohol consumption in one subgroup (p < .01 in Group 7); (2) interaction between "belonging support (2)" and depressive symptoms was related to decreased alcohol consumption in two groups (p < .05 in Group 5 andp < .01 in Group 7), whereas the interaction was related to increased alcohol consumption in one group (p < .01 in Group 1). CONCLUSIONS: Social support was suggested to have various types of influences (i.e., positive, negative or no effect) on the relationship between work stress and alcohol consumption, depending on the type of social support and environmental factors defining the groups.
• 07/09/2010 - Social support has both positive and negative effects on the relationship of work stress and alcohol consumption
  Previous studies imply that certain combinations of work stressors, social support (SS), and other conditions could lead to both increased and decreased alcohol consumption. Thus, we evaluated both positive and negative influences of social support on the work stress-alcohol consumption relationship in a general population. The study design was a cross-sectional survey. Of a probability sample of persons 25 years of age or older and living in the United States (n = 3617), subjects who drank and who were without missing values with respect to study variables were analysed (n = 967 or 94). Since previous studies have suggested the necessity of adopting the sensitivity hypothesis (i.e. different stressors require different social supports), hierarchical regression analyses were carried out to test the effects of interactions between two types of social support (e.g. family social support or out-of-family social support) and two types of work stressors (e.g. job psychological demand, job decision latitude) on alcohol consumption. Our analysis verified that (1) social support had both positive and negative effects on the work stress-alcohol relationship. Specifically, (2) interactions between physical activity and decision latitude, and between child support and psychological job demand were related to decreased alcohol consumption. However, (3) interactions between spouse support and decision latitude, and between informal social integration and psychological job demand, were related to increased alcohol consumption. It has been suggested that social support is not of universal benefit in reducing excessive drinking and may sometimes be a reinforcing factor. Since the external validity of these findings might be limited because of the small sample size in some analyses, further study is necessary.