Effectiveness of overservice law-enforcement programs in preventing excessive drinking

¶ … Enhanced Overservice Law-Enforcement Programs in Preventing Excessive Drinking

The Effectiveness of Enhanced Overservice Law-Enforcement Programs in Preventing Excessive Drinking: Research Proposal

Excessive drinking has, in recent years, grown to become one of the leading social concerns for policymakers in the United States. It is estimated that the American economy loses over $200 billion dollars every year in harms related to excessive consumption of alcohol. This text presents a proposal for a research study seeking to assess the effectiveness of overservice law-enforcement programs in preventing excessive drinking.

The Effectiveness of Enhanced Overservice Law-Enforcement Programs in Preventing Excessive Drinking

Introduction

Excessive consumption of alcohol is increasingly becoming a serious concern for policymakers and administrators in the U.S. The National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIH) defines excessive drinking as the consumption of more than two drinks per day in the case of men, and one drink per day for women. Currently, excessive drinking stands as the third-leading cause of preventable death in the country, accounting for approximately 88,000 deaths annually (NIAAA, 2015). It is estimated that approximately 24.6% of the adult American population engages in excessive alcohol consumption every month (NIAAA, 2015). These high rates are manifested in an increased number of alcohol-impaired driving fatalities, alcohol-related health conditions and familial abuse. In 2013 alone, 10,076 driving fatalities were related to alcohol consumption and 5.1% of the burden of injury and disease was attributable to excessive drinking (NIAAA, 2015). The overall cost to the economy resulting from these figures is massive -- in 2006, for instance, the American economy lost $223.5 billion as a direct result of alcohol misuse problems (NIAAA, 2015). This comes even as the government continues to put in place stringent regulations and policies to curb excessive drinking in on-premises alcohol retail outlets. One of the most prominent initiatives that have been implemented so far is the overservice law-enforcement program. The program works by prohibiting the service of drinks to intoxicated persons in on-premises outlets. This text is geared at determining how effective the overservice law-enforcement program is in preventing excessive alcohol consumption.

The research question guiding the study is:

"Are there any observable differences in the overall rates of excessive alcohol consumption before and after the implementation of overservice programs?"

The corresponding null and alternative hypotheses are:

H0: µ1= µ2= µ3

There are no significant differences in the rates of excessive alcohol consumption before and after implementation of overservice programs

HA: µ1 ? µ2? µ3

There are significant differences in the rates of excessive alcohol consumption before and after the implementation of overservice programs

The repeated measures ANOVA test will be used to test the hypotheses. This test is appropriate for the proposed study because there are three groups to be measured. The repeated measures ANOVA is appropriate when there are three or more related groups being measured on the same dependent variable. The three groups in our case are i) the excessive drinking rates (as manifested in the number of alcohol-related harms) in the town 'before' the implementation of the overservice program (t1), the rates 1 month after implementation (t2), and the rates three months after implementation (t3).

Methods

The study will be conducted in the town of Mason in the State of Ohio, the researcher's hometown. Ohio is one of the states that have fully implemented the overservice law-enforcement initiative; however, most retail outlets are yet to begin implementing the same in their premises. 20 popular drinking outlets will be selected to participate in the study. The twenty will be selected through random sampling, which basically means that all the 29 eligible outlets stand equal chances of getting selected to participate. Random sampling will be used to increase objectivity and minimize the risk of bias. The average rates of reported harms directly related to excessive drinking in the town as reported by the NIAAA over the last three months will be calculated and recorded prior to the commencement of the program. Consent letters will then be sent out to the owners of all the 29 outlets requesting them to take part in the study (consent and authorization to conduct the study will already have been sought from the relevant authorities in the town). The letters will among other things provide orientation to outlet owners on the importance of the study and the benefits that could accrue from their participation in the same. Owing to time and cost constraints, only the first 20 owners to respond will be allowed take part in the study. The data collection team will then (in the presence) of the outlet owner, train staff in the 20 outlets on how to carry out the overservice program, which will basically entail looking out for bloodshot eyes, flushed face, slurred speech and balance and coordination in customers and then denying them additional drinks. The program will run for a period of three months, and the rates of reported harms related to excessive drinking 1 month after the implementation of the program and upon its completion will be obtained and recorded.

Results

As I mentioned earlier on in this text, the repeated measures ANOVA will be used to test the null hypothesis presented in the preceding section. The number of alcohol-related harms before the program will be recorded and compared to the number reported after 1 month of implementation and in the third and final month of implementation. A significance level of .05 (p

Repeated measures ANOVA tests are susceptible to violation of two key assumptions -- sphericity and normality in the distribution of the dependent variable in the different groups. Both of these violations cause the test to become too liberal, and heighten the risk of type 1 error. The Mauchly's test of sphericity and the Shapiro-Wilk normality tests will be conducted alongside the repeated measures ANOVA on SPSS to determine whether the presented therein violates the sphericity and normality assumptions respectively. If violations are found to have occurred, the degree of violation will be estimated and a correction factor applied to the degrees of freedom on the F-distribution to make the critical F-value more valid. This will increase the validity of the study findings and minimize the risk of type 1 error.

Discussion

The study findings will go a long way in informing policymakers in the state of Ohio about the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of enhanced overservice programs as a strategy for preventing excessive drinking. If the program is found to be effective in realizing the intended objectives, then policymakers could devise a framework for ensuring that retail outlets implement the same. A number of limitations, however, impede on the viability of the study findings. First, we may not be able to ascertain that the change in the prevalence of alcohol-related harms is due primarily to the implementation of the overservice program. Other initiatives besides the overservice program could have contributed to the change, and this increases the risk of bias. Moreover, it may be difficult convincing outlet owners to give their consent since the overservice program goes against the profit-maximizing motive. All the same, the study will be a source of crucial insight to policymakers in the State of Ohio and beyond.