Preventing workplace substance abuse: beyond drug testing to wellness

Chap. 1, by Bennett, Reynolds, and Lehman, describes the need to consider a multilevel approach that addresses substance use in individuals as well as in work groups, organizations, and occupations as a whole. Chapter 1 showcases a preliminary meta-analysis of existing research in the field of workplace substance abuse prevention.
In chap. 2, Snow, Swan, and Wilton introduce a model of risk and protective factors that serves as a general heuristic for subsequent chapters. This model postulates that work and family stressors and the use of avoidance coping are risk factors for substance abuse and other negative health outcomes, whereas active coping strategies and social support from work and nonwork sources operate as protective factors. Cook, Back, Trudeau, and McPherson have been developing a variety of substance abuse prevention programs for more than a decade. Each program (SAY YES!, Working People: Decisions About Drinking, and Connections) links workplace health promotion programs with substance abuse prevention.
Chap. 4, by Heirich and Sieck, describes The Wellness Outreach at Work model to promote cardiovascular health, implemented in more than 100 work sites since the 1970s. This model effectively incorporated messages for alcohol reduction into cardiovascular wellness programs in three separate studies (i.e., a public utility, a manufacturing plant, and a university).
In chap. 5, Lehman, Reynolds, and Bennett describe how they developed a risk factor-protective factor model by applying results from their past research and then used that model to develop two training programs. The team-oriented prevention training focuses on improving social health among employees and encouraging help-seeking behaviors, and the informational training is an enhanced version of the typical orientations that many workplaces provide to their employees.
Unlike the quantitative approach of other chapters, chap. 6 provides Shain and Suurvali's narrative analysis of the development of a workplace prevention program within a large Canadian forest products company. The focus is on how an idea or innovation - in this case, a method for preventing injuries and accidents - can be developed, diffused within an organization, and ultimately adopted.
In chap. 7, Sonnenstuhl places the current set of interventions within the cultural context of temperance reform in American history. Specifically, he suggests that workplace substance abuse prevention programs may be paving the way for a new cycle of temperance reform that dates back to colonial times.
The final chapter, by Bennett, Reynolds, and Lehman, provides recommendations to businesses and providers of prevention programs. It also appeals to researchers in psychology to apply knowledge from diverse areas of the field: group processes (i.e., conformity and social influence), clinical and counseling psychology (i.e., work dysfunction), prosocial behavior (i.e., help-giving and -seeking behavior), and stigma.