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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Recorded presentation

Ted Miller, PhD¹, Deborah Galvin, PhD², and Les R. Becker¹. (1) Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, 11710 Beltsville Drive, Suite 300, Calverton, MD 20705, 301-755-2727, miller@pire.org, (2) Division of Workplace Programs, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration, Center for Substance Abuse Prevention, 1 Choke Cherry Road, Room 2-1043, Rockville, MD 20857

Background: Amtrak implemented an interactive wellness website, On the Right Track (OTRT), to complement its vital peer-to-peer substance abuse prevention and early intervention program, EAP, and random drug and alcohol testing. OTRT is tailored from SAMSHA's Get Fit website. Objective: To evaluate OTRT's effectiveness in improving peer-to-peer service delivery by 2400 volunteer providers organized into 125 teams in a safety-sensitive 24-7 environment with routine overnight travel. Methods: Fall 2003 survey of program leaders using a retrospective pretest-posttest design. Of 219 people surveyed, 161 (73.5%) responded. Results: 83.8% had Internet access at home and 48.7% at work; only 8.4% completely lacked access. The program dramatically improved peer helper capabilities. Gains included enhanced ability to give access to health related information to employees who want to keep their problems confidential, around-the-clock access to materials in an around-the-clock environment, greater reliance on Government-disseminated published materials in place of materials of unknown validity and effectiveness, and easier access to a wider variety of information. Improved peer-helper access to information on Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, and Alanon meeting locations and times substantially increased requests for this information. Locating those meetings presumably helped some mobile employees to stay drug-and-alcohol-free. Conclusion: OTRT clearly aided peer helpers. It substantially increased the ease of doing every peer task queried in the survey. From finding information to posting on bulletin boards to improving peer-helper understanding of substance abuse prevention and health promotion content to referring employees to follow-up information after telephone or in-person conversations, OTRT made a difference.

Learning Objectives:

• Participants will learn how an interactive health communication website aids peer helpers in substance abuse prevention and early intervention efforts.

Keywords: Workforce, Communication Technology

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No

Recorded presentation