A randomized trial to evaluate a management training program to prevent illegal alcohol sales

ABSTRACT Aims To evaluate effects of a training program for owners/managers of alcohol establishments—Alcohol Risk Management (ARM)—on: (i) propensity to sell alcohol to obviously intoxicated patrons; and (ii) changing establishment‐level policies/practices. Design We assigned alcohol establishments randomly to intervention (full‐ARM) and delayed‐intervention/control (ARM Express) conditions. Setting One large metropolitan area in Midwestern United States. Participants Owners and managers at 231 on‐premise alcohol establishments (i.e. bars, restaurants). Intervention Training programs consisted of one‐to‐one sessions with the owner/manager at each establishment. The goal of training was to help owners/managers to select and implement alcohol control policies in their establishments. The full‐ARM training consisted of four one‐to‐one sessions and the ARM Express was a single session. Measurements We measured intervention effects through baseline and follow‐up pseudo‐intoxicated alcohol purchase attempts (i.e. feigning intoxication while attempting to purchase alcohol) and telephone surveys of owners/managers at alcohol establishments. Findings Sales rates to pseudo‐intoxicated patrons reduced 23% (relative to delayed‐intervention/control condition) at the first follow‐up purchase attempt (P = 0.06) but returned to baseline levels 3 months later. On average, establishments selected 13 of 18 recommended policies, but in multivariate models we observed no significant differences at follow‐up in reported policies/practices across establishments. Conclusions Reliance on manager training to promote responsible establishment alcohol policies is not sufficient to prevent illegal alcohol sales to obviously intoxicated patrons and to reduce alcohol‐related problems.