WayToServe Español: Online Responsible Beverage Service Training for Spanish-Speaking Servers (WTS-E)

WayToServe Español: A Culturally-Appropriate Online Responsible Beverage Service Training for Spanish-Speaking Servers

Responsible Beverage Service Training (RBS) has been shown to be effective and recent research by this research team has shown that online RBS training (WayToServe®) was more effective, particularly over time, than usual and customary (UC) RBS training by live trainers. However, one growing segment of alcohol servers and sellers has been neglected in RBS training efforts: Hispanic primarily Spanish-speaking servers in predominantly Spanish-speaking premises. This project will develop and test the first online RBS training for predominantly Spanish-speaking servers, WayToServe Español, which is culturally and linguistically appropriate and will fill a gap in evidence-based alcohol prevention interventions for this underserved population.

Among the measures against drunk driving available to policy makers and prevention practitioners, Responsible Beverage Service (RBS) training has shown promise. In these programs, alcohol servers are educated in a number of techniques, including correct identification checking, recognizing signs of intoxication in patrons, and managing patrons via drink counting techniques to safely keep them under Driving While Intoxicated blood alcohol limits. Recent reviews of RBS programs have found evidence for effectiveness. However, the diffusion of RBS training and practices has been limited: 18 U.S. states require some form of RBS training, another 18 incentivize training in some way, and the other 14 states have no RBS regulations at all. As a result, while RBS training may be widely available, it is not widely adopted. An overlooked limitation of all RBS training in the U.S., and a limit to its dissemination, is that it is only offered in English and from a mainstream U.S. culture point of view. Proposed here is the development and testing of a Spanish-language version of an evidence-based online RBS training program (WayToServe®) that will be culturally tailored to Hispanic cultural values, experiences, and circumstances: WayToServe Español. The systematic development of WayToServe Español will meet the training needs of an underserved and growing population segment of alcohol servers and sellers - Hispanics who are predominant speakers of Spanish and who often work in premises with many predominantly Spanish-speaking patrons. The proposed Direct-to-Phase II research will be accomplished in two phases. The first phase will entail the iterative and systematic development of WayToServe Español via Spanish-language focus groups and usability testing. The second phase will involve the evaluation of WayToServe Español in Spanish-dominant premises in New Mexico and West Texas via a randomized efficacy trial that randomly assigns premises to either receive WayToServe Español training or Usual and Customary (UC) RBS training. A variety of alcohol service refusal rates will be the primary outcome variable, measured using a pseudo-intoxicated Pseudo-Patron (PP) buyer assessment protocol. Premises will be assessed at baseline, post-training, and 9-month follow up intervals. Should WayToServe Español prove effective, commercialization plans include efforts similar to those for WayToServe® (English), now available in four states (New Mexico, Texas, California, Washington, and under review for approval in Oregon) and having trained nearly 29,000 alcohol servers and sellers. Overall, the project will bolster efforts to diffuse an effective RBS training to underserved Spanish-speaking alcohol servers and sellers, benefitting both them directly and the communities in which they live. WayToServe Español will be the first culturally- and linguistically-appropriate evidence-based RBS training available online in the U.S. for this underserved population.

The experimental design to be employed in the trial evaluation of WayToServe Español (WTS-E) in this direct-to-Phase II project is a two-arm randomized field trial design (WTS-E vs. Usual and Customary [UC] training) with three assessment points (pretest - immediate post-test - 9 month follow-up).This constitutes a 2 (level of RBS training intervention) x 3 (level of time assessment) mixed factorial design. Spanish dominant onsite and off-site licensed alcohol premises will be the unit of analysis, stratified by type of premise (onsite vs. off-site sales) and state (New Mexico vs. Texas).

The Investigators have carefully considered the over-time assessment factor in this design, and have chosen two follow-up assessments over a 9 month-period because a) our prior WayToServe® trials have shown that an immediate post-training assessment will document intervention effects when training effects are at optimum levels immediately after the training; b) the sustained effect of WTS-E needs to be demonstrated to show long-term not just short-term impact (9 months being between our previous 6-month and 1-year follow-ups). Finally, c) all follow-ups can be completed within the approximately 2-year period of a Phase II project. The immediate post-training assessment will occur for both arms of the design, one month after premises in the intervention arm are given access to WTS-E.

Following baseline assessment and randomization to experimental condition, premises assigned to the intervention condition will be contacted and recruited to the trial. Managers will provide a list of all servers. All servers will be registered by project staff on the WTS-E website and provided a unique identification code, which will track their use of the training and associate it with the premise. Servers will complete a profile on the program during their first login. Servers will be asked to complete the training within four weeks from initial registration; email and text reminders will be sent to those who do not login within one week of initial registration.

The premises randomized to the UC training condition will be, in effect, blind to the investigation. Server training is mandatory for all servers in New Mexico. Server training is voluntary in Texas but heavily incentivized by TABC's Safe Harbor clause. Under this clause, liquor licensees are held harmless for any service infractions if all servers are trained and certified by an approved RBS trainer; instead, the server is cited for the infraction.

The Investigators will employ data forms completed by both PP buyer and observer to record server reactions during the PP buyer visit. These forms are filled out immediately after the visit and are checked by research staff for completeness and concordance before data entry. The PP buyer form contains fields that record if an alcohol sale was made. The alcohol service refusal rate is the ratio of the number of times the sale is refused to the number of purchase attempts.

Inclusion Criteria: Speak Spanish Primarily or bilingual in Spanish and English Serve alcohol in a Spanish-dominant premise in New Mexico or West Texas Age 18 or older Exclusion Criteria: Have a family member who is participating in the project Speak English primarily