EVALUATING SPECIFIC COMMUNITY STRUCTURAL-CHANGES - EXAMPLES FROM THE ASSESSMENT OF RESPONSIBLE BEVERAGE SERVICE

Responsible Beverage Service (RES) refers to the idea that bars and re staurants may be able to have a significant impact on the levels of de aths and injuries associated with alcohol consumption including, but n ot limited to alcohol-impaired driving. After a brief background on RE S as a prevention strategy, the authors review the different measures, protocols, and designs that have been employed in evaluations of resp onsible service programs with attention paid to the strengths and limi tations accompanying each choice. This article concludes by describing the Prevention Research Center's Community Trials Project design as i t relates to evaluating its RES component, and some of the unique cons iderations that influenced the measures and protocols employed fn so d oing, the authors discover how the larger project serves as an interes ting case study in action research.