Evaluation of a workplace alcohol prevention program targeted on managers' inclination to initiate early alcohol intervention.

No blinding was possible because the intervention was delivered at the organizational level and the control condition was a waitlist. All outcomes were self-reported through an online survey, introducing social desirability bias and the risk that managers were reporting their perception of their own ability rather than actual knowledge or practice. Organizations were recruited from sectors where hazardous alcohol consumption is overrepresented (transport, construction, hospitality), and the alcohol policy was tailored to each organization's culture, so results may not generalise to other sectors. Two of the thirteen randomized organizations dropped out after allocation because they were dissatisfied with their group, leaving 11 clusters. Only 187 of the 749 invited managers completed both surveys with complete data, and the analysis used a complete-case approach. Follow-up was limited to 12 months, and the study did not measure whether managers actually changed their behaviour with employees or whether employees' drinking habits changed.

Alna, a Swedish organization that provides prevention services to workplaces, developed the APMaT program, delivered it to the intervention organizations through its own consultants, and was a co-investigator on the study alongside Stockholm University. Alna's consultants stated they had no role in the evaluation of the program.

Do not read the confidence and confirmation results as proof that managers will actually start more conversations with employees about drinking. The outcome was self-reported inclination, not observed behaviour, and the third dimension (need for the employee to acknowledge a problem) moved in the opposite direction, which the authors themselves flag as a barrier to early intervention.