| Evaluating
the New Mexico Server Education Act
Principal
Investigator: Robert F. Saltz, Ph.D.
View
Video Presentation
System
Requirements: This presentation contains digital video, which
utilizes Windows Media Player 7/8 and is best viewed on a
computer with at least a Pentium III/450 MHz or better processor
and a DSL/ISDN (256 kbps) Internet connection. To avoid playback
interuptions, it is recommended all e-mail applications are
closed while viewing.
In
1993, the New Mexico Legislature passed the Alcohol Server
Education Act mandating that every seller or server of alcoholic
beverages in the state complete a program based on an approved
curriculum and taught by approved schools and instructors.
The overall purpose of the Act is to (a) enhance the professionalism
of persons employed in the alcoholic beverage service industry;
(b) establish a program for servers, licensees, and their
lessees that examines the effects of alcohol, ways of recognizing
problem drinkers, and the legal liabilities of serving and
selling alcoholic beverages in the state of New Mexico; (c)
reduce the number of persons who drive while under the influence
of intoxicating beverages and mitigate the physical and property
damage caused by that behavior; and (d) reduce the frequency
of alcohol-related birth defects.
The goals of the evaluation of the New Mexico Server Education
Act are to:
- Observe
the impact of the law on serving practices within the
state, and
- Identify
those factors that facilitate or obstruct its ability
to change that behavior and, in turn, reduce alcohol-related
deaths and injuries.
To that end, the design has two primary components: an observational
study of the law's impact, and an experimental component to
explore the question of whether the law's impact may be enhanced
through supplementary training (that focuses on skill development),
through a more visible enforcement of the training law (as
well as laws against serving intoxicated patrons), and a combination
of the two (a basic 2 X 2 factorial design). Thus, there is
a "natural experiment " in which to not only evaluate
the effectiveness of the new law as it stands, but also "probe
" through specific program enhancements to see if the
law has an even greater potential impact than one we would
passively observe.
Proceed
to PRC CD Presentation featuring Dr. Robert F. Saltz
Return to Projects
Directory
| 
