Perception and Attitude of Employers towards Employees with AUD in an Emerging Economy: A Qualitative Enquiry

Background: The disease, addiction to chemical substances or drugs such as alcohol (ethanol, C2H5OH) is still not accepted as a diagnostic nosology by many in Ghana. Many consider addiction as a moral challenge, rather than a medical condition. This perception is propagated even in the Ministry of Health’s Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) policy document which punishes symptoms of substance use disorders. This study seeks to explore the perception and attitude of employers towards employees with alcohol use disorders (AUD) and to ascertain the level at which employee assistance programs (EAPs) are implemented in organizations. Methods: To infer outcomes, the study adopted the qualitative approach. In-depth interviews and observations which describe the perceived attitudes of employers (using HR managers as proxy) towards employees with AUD of some selected hospitals (private and public) in the Greater-Accra Metropolis. The interview was conducted face-to-face using an interview guide, which included open-ended questions. The structure of the guide helped the researchers to observe the participants and the conversations were also audio-taped after seeking the consent of the participants. On average, the interview lasted between 45 and 60 minutes. Results: Findings from the 10 interviews revealed that a number of factors such as biological, environmental, social and psychological accounted for AUD among employees regardless of the nature of their work. Although the HR managers had knowledge on the possible causes of AUD, some of them explained that they could not identify alcohol use in their organisations. The few that admitted to AUD at their workplace reported that alcohol use did not have any effect on their productivity and most of these workers were temporal or causal workers, hence were not perceived as permanent staff. In spite of prevalence of AUD in some hospitals, it was interesting to know that majority of these facilities had no EAPs and the few that had policies on AUD were not implementing them. Conclusions: This paper focused on some aspect of HR managers’ perceived attitude toward an aspect of their employees’ mental wellbeing which is AUD in a work setting. However, there are other pertinent issues that are crucial to employee total wellbeing that can be addressed in future research.

Effectiveness of an employment-based smoking cessation assistance program in China

Objective:The objective of this study was to adapt an evidence-based smoking cessation intervention initially developed in the United States to the Chinese context and evaluate the ef-fectiveness of this intervention in China.Method:A smoking cessation program from United States was adapted and implemented through an Employee Assistance Program(EAP)in China.The intervention consisted of recom-mending medication and psychological counseling.Local EAP counselors received training on the program and delivered the intervention to clients.Program evaluation examined the intervention's effectiveness in helping clients quit or reduce the amount of smoking and nicotine dependence.Results:Ninety-day follow-up showed that those who had completed the program were more likely to remain abstinent,or stop smoking daily and have lower levels of nicotine dependence(p<0.05)than those who had dropped out.Conclusions:The evidence-based cessation program is effective in helping Chinese smok-ers quit or reduce the amount of smoking.Moreover,implementing such programs in an EAP setting is a practical approach to providing a wider spectrum of smokers with access to cessation assistance in China.

Pressure Solution and Happiness Promotion in Young University Teachers based on EAP

This paper investigates and analyzes the current situation of young teachers in ten universities in Shaanxi via questionnaire survey and random interview. It is shown that the main source of pressure include the following aspects ： heavy burden of education and research, high-pressure in economy and life, high expectations of personal development, lack of physical exercise, mechanization of college evaluation system. On the basis of the above analysis, this paper puts forward the specific EAP model which is suitable to young teachers in NWPU Furtherly, the program impact assessment method is constructed to ensure the effective implementation of the program