Young Adults in the Workplace (YIW): Cross-site evaluation of workplace prevention programs

The Young Adults in the Workplace (YIW) initiative addresses an unmet need for young adult prevention services in the workplace; this initiative studies the effectiveness of workplace-based substance abuse prevention and early intervention programs for young adults aged 16 to 24. The cross-site evaluation of this multisite, multiprotocol initiative broadens the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's (SAMHSA) workplace prevention initiatives by generating empirically-based knowledge about a diverse set of interventions and their functionality within a variety of workplace populations and contexts. SAMHSA's Center for Substance Abuse Prevention funded six nationwide grantees as well as a cross-site evaluation. The YIW cross-site evaluation plan is designed to supply a comprehensive understanding of how the YIW interventions were implemented, the effects they had on employees, and the value they provided to employers. To accomplish this, the cross-site infrastructure supports three interrelated evaluation efforts: a process evaluation, an outcome evaluation, and an economic evaluation.

This presentation will provide preliminary cross-site findings across the six grants related to perceptions and behaviors of substance abuse and wellness in addition to workplace outcomes. Preliminary findings show use of a substance is correlated with lower perceived risk of harm associated with the substance. Our follow up surveys will report how perceptions and behaviors related to substance use have changed pre- and post-intervention compared to randomly-assigned comparison groups. We will also present findings from the cross-site process study to estimate which aspects of workplace interventions are most correlated with changed perceptions and behaviors related to substance abuse.