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Responsible Beverage Service Training for Spanish-Speaking Alcohol Servers

Responsible Beverage Service Training for Spanish-Speaking Alcohol Servers

Responsible Beverage Service (RBS) training has shown promise to reduce alcohol-related injury and mortality. The diffusion of RBS training is limited. Only 25 U.S. states require RBS training, while other states incentivize or have no RBS regulations. One diffusion limitation is that RBS training in the United Stated is typically offered in English from a mainstream culture point of view. 

Klein Buendel Senior Scientist, Dr. W. Gill Woodall, presented data on the systematic testing of a new Spanish language version of an evidence-based online RBS training program at the 47th Annual Meeting of the Kettil Bruun Society for Social and Epidemiological Research on Alcohol, May 30 to June 3, 2022 in Warsaw, Poland. WayToServe Español (WTS-E) is specifically tailored to Hispanic cultural beliefs, tastes, and experiences.

Spanish-speaking alcohol servers in Texas and New Mexico were involved in WTS-E development and evaluation. Focus groups and usability interviews were employed in systematic development. A randomized efficacy trial employed Spanish-speaking intoxicated pseudo-patron assessments of premises at baseline, 3 months, and 1 year post-training, with premises randomized to WTS-E or the usual RBS training. 

A randomized trial was conducted with 80 alcohol premises (40 onsite liquor by the drink premises, and 40 offsite package sales premises), with pseudo-intoxicated patron assessments at baseline, immediate post-intervention, and one-year follow-up. At baseline, the alcohol sales refusal was 21.6%, with a significant difference between states. The presentation examined the impact of a linguistically- and culturally-tailored online RBS training in Spanish-trading alcohol premises in two states with different alcohol RBS regulations. Implications for alcohol policy research were discussed.

The WTS-E research was funded by a grant from the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities at the National Institutes of Health (MD010405; Dr. W. Gill Woodall, Principal Investigator). Collaborating co-authors on the presentation included Dr. Robert Saltz from the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation; Dr. Frank Perez and Dr. Areli Chacon Silva from the University of Texas at El Paso; Dr. Victoria Sanchez and Dr. Randall Starling from the University of New Mexico; and Dr. David Buller, Jeannyfer Camacho Reither, Lila Martinez, and Marita Brooks from Klein Buendel.

Way to Serve Sells 100,000 Trainings

Way to Serve Sells 100,000 Trainings

WayToServe®, an evidence-based online responsible alcohol server training program, has sold its 100,000th training!

WayToServe was created by scientists and developers from the University of New Mexico, the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, and Klein Buendel. The engaging, media-rich program was initially evaluated in a controlled randomized trial that resulted in high trainee satisfaction and increased refusal of sales to intoxicated patrons. WayToServe was licensed to Wedge Communications, LLC and launched into the online marketplace in 2012. To date, WayToServe has been tailored and approved for sale and certification of trainers in California, Texas, Washington, and New Mexico.

To meet the needs of Spanish-speakers, Klein Buendel is currently testing a companion program, WayToServe Español. “WayToServe Español es muy importante! It could help saves lives,” said Dr. W. Gill Woodall, the project’s director. The unique Spanish-language training program will be on the market in 2021.

The original WayToServe program was funded by two grants from National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism to the University of New Mexico (AA014982 and AA016606; Dr. W. Gill Woodall, Principal Investigator). The WayToServe Español program is funded by a grant from the National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities (MD010405; Dr. W. Gill Woodall, KB Senior Scientist, Principal Investigator).

Smart Choices 4 Teens

Smart Choices 4 Teens

Three Klein Buendel researchers were part of a team that gave two presentations at the Tenth European Society for Prevention Research (EUSPR) Conference and Members’ Meeting in Ghent, Belgium in September. Dr. David Buller, Dr. W. Gill Woodall, and Ms. Julia Berteletti were part of the Smart Choices 4 Teens research team led by Dr. Brenda Miller from the Prevention Research Center at the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation (PIRE).

Smart Choices 4 Teens is an online, interactive, family-based program for parents and older teens designed to reduce teen alcohol use and risky sexual behaviors. The program features three sequential components (parent-teen communication, teen alcohol prevention, and teen romantic relationships) that parents and teens complete separately before working together through a discussion activity at the end of each component. A randomized controlled trial with 411 families found significantly better outcomes for teens in the experimental condition as compared to controls in terms of decreased alcohol use and decreased sexual risk behaviors.

Oral Presentation

Dr. Brenda Miller’s presentation focused on the design of the Smart Choices 4 Teens alcohol prevention component. This module targeted eleven topics: (1) the decision to drink or not drink, (2) social host laws, (3) physical effects of alcohol, (4) signs of alcohol poisoning, (5) social consequences of alcohol, (6) an interactive Blood Alcohol Calculator, (7) myths about alcohol, (8) creating a safety plan for parties, (9) parental influences, (10) refusal skills, and (11) defining a drinking problem. The module incorporated four different activity formats — video narratives, info-gadgets, interactive activities, and structured discussions. Parents and teens engaged in the same materials but did so separately, coming together to choose and discuss hypothetical scenarios that guided the discussion offline. A “nudge” feature was embedded to allow teens to prompt their parent to finish a module and move to the end-of-module offline discussion or vice versa. The nudge feature was used 561 times by 218 users.

Dr. Miller reported that 86% of experimental families began the intervention and 50% of families completed the teen alcohol prevention component. The average time needed to complete the alcohol component was 16 minutes. Parents and teens reported learning new lessons and becoming more comfortable discussing alcohol use together. Barriers to completion included limited understanding of some content and needing additional instructions.

Poster Presentation

Dr. David Buller presented a poster, with analysis led by Dr. W. Gill Woodall, on the effect of teen engagement with Smart Choices 4 Teens. Teens and parents (411 dyads) completed an online baseline survey prior to being assigned to either the intervention or control conditions. Follow-up online surveys were completed 6, 12, and 18 months later. The teen sample was 55% female and 72% non-Hispanic White. The parent sample was comprised predominately of mothers (84.7%).

The Smart Choices 4 Teens website tracked duration of time spent using each of the web-based components. In an analysis of teens who completed the program in the intervention group (n=142), linear regressions tested duration of teens’ time in each online component in the entire program as predictors of teens’ past 30-day alcohol use at the 6-month follow-up. More time spent by teens using interactive activities negatively predicted later alcohol use, as did teens’ time spent viewing videos. Also, teens’ time spent using info-gadget activities had a negative relationship with alcohol use.

The researchers report that activities with interactivity, animations, and video content may produce stronger preventive effects on alcohol use because teens prefer this format over written text in the info-gadgets, have more involvement with them, and/or find characters relatable. These reactions may stimulate deep processing of prevention content.

The Smart Choices 4 Teens research was supported by a grant from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (AA020977; Dr. Brenda Miller, PIRE, Principal Investigator). Other authors on Dr. Miller’s research team included Dr. Hilary Byrnes, Ms. Veronica Rogers, and Dr. Joel Grube from PIRE; Dr. Beth Bourdeau from the University of California San Francisco; and Dr. David Buller, Dr. W. Gill Woodall, and Ms. Julia Berteletti from Klein Buendel. Smart Choices 4 Teens was programmed by the Creative Team at Klein Buendel.

Dr. Brenda Miller viewing Smart Choices 4 Teens
Train To Tend Licensed to Avid Will LLC

Train To Tend Licensed to Avid Will LLC

Klein Buendel has licensed its online responsible vendor training program for recreational marijuana stores, Train To Tend®, to Avid Will LLC for sales and marketing. Senior Scientists, Dr. David Buller and Dr. W. Gill Woodall, and their collaborators created Train To Tend to provide retail staff with knowledge and skills to sell recreational marijuana responsibly in an effort to keep their communities safe. Avid Will LLC will make Train to Tend available immediately to retail recreational marijuana stores in Colorado. State-specific versions for Oregon, Washington State, Massachusetts, and California will be launched this year, as well.

In 2017 and 2018, Train To Tend was tested using a random sample of state-licensed recreational marijuana stores (n=225) in Colorado, Oregon, and Washington State. One hundred twenty-five stores were randomly selected to receive the Train To Tend training while the remaining stores received the usual and customary training in their state. Post-training surveys were administered to Train To Tend trainees to gauge their perceptions of self-efficacy toward responsible vending practices, as well as their ratings of usability for Train To Tend.

The training improved trainees’ ability to check IDs, and their confidence in using their state’s inventory tracking system and identifying intoxicated customers. Trainees rated the training as user-friendly and thought that the information and skills learned in the training would help keep their communities safe. In a recent review, Danielle, an Instructional Designer for Native Roots, a Colorado retail chain, said “Train To Tend has been effective and engaging for our employees, and we are thankful for the Train To Tend team and their online responsible vendor program.”

The development and evaluation of Train to Tend was funded by a grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse at the National Institutes of Health (DA038933; Dr. David Buller, Principal Investigator). Additional scientific collaborators include Dr. W. Gill Woodall from Klein Buendel and Dr. Robert Saltz from the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation in California.

Results of a Randomized Trial of the Way To Serve Responsible Alcohol Server Training

Results of a Randomized Trial of the Way To Serve Responsible Alcohol Server Training

Alcohol use and misuse is a leading cause of preventable death in the United States. Alcohol servers may help prevent alcohol-impaired car accidents and other harms by discouraging overconsumption by patrons. Responsible beverage service (RBS) training is designed to improve serving behavior, especially by avoiding selling too many drinks to a patron, refusing sales to intoxicated patrons, and properly checking identification to prevent sales to minors. Positive evaluations of RBS programs have been reported, yet online technologies hold promise for improving training quality, fidelity, cost, and uptake.

In a recent publication in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, researchers led by Klein Buendel (KB) Senior Scientist, Dr. W. Gill Woodall, reported the results of a randomized trial of the media-rich, interactive web-based WayToServe® (WTS) RBS training. The study hypothesized that servers who completed the WTS training would refuse alcohol service to apparently-intoxicated patrons at significantly higher rates compared with servers who completed the usual and customary (UC) live training.

In the study, alcohol-serving establishments (such as bars) in New Mexico were randomly assigned to receive WTS training (n=154) or the UC live training (n=155). Establishments were assessed before training, immediately after training, at six months after training, and at one year after training with a pseudo-intoxicated patron protocol (in which buyers were trained to enacting documented behavioral signs of intoxication) to assess premise alcohol service during early to mid-evening hours. The primary outcome variable for the assessment was the proportion of apparently-intoxicated buyers who were refused alcohol service.

Results indicated significantly higher refusal rates for WTS than for UC premises at the immediate (WTS=68% vs. UC=49%) and the one-year post-training assessment points (WTS=68% vs. UC=58%), but not at the six-month post-training assessment (WTS=69% vs. UC=64%). Results also indicated that younger pseudo-patrons were consistently refused more often than older pseudo-patrons. The study concluded that RBS training can be delivered online, broadening the scale of distribution and making it a potentially more cost-effective way to reach alcohol servers with effective and beneficial RBS training.

A full description of the methods, results, and limitations of this study, as well as commentaries by Buvik & Rossow (2018) and Miller (2018), and an author response, can be found in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.

The research was funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (AA014982; W. Gill Woodall, Principal Investigator) at the National Institutes of Health. Collaborators/coauthors include Dr. Randall Starling from the University of New Mexico, Dr. Robert Saltz from the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation in California, Dr. David Buller from KB, and Dr. Paula Stranghetta from Paula Stanghetta & Associates, Inc. in Ontario, Canada. KB’s Creative Team produced the WayToServe® web-based training. WayToServe® has been licensed to Wedge Communications LLC for commercial sale and distribution.