THE COMMUNITY EPIDEMIOLOGY LABORATORY - STUDYING ALCOHOL-PROBLEMS IN COMMUNITY AND AGENCY-BASED POPULATIONS

This paper describes the Community Epidemiology Laboratory (CEL) of th e Alcohol Research Group, a project focusing on the epidemiology of al cohol problems and community responses to those problems. Since 1980, a series of probability surveys have been conducted in the general pop ulation and in a wide range of health and social service agencies in a northern California county. The agency-based samples have included al l agencies or representative samples of each system (alcohol treatment , drug treatment, mental health treatment, emergency rooms, primary he alth care, criminal justice and welfare) with probability samples of c lients interviewed at intake. These studies have addressed questions r egarding (1) the burden and epidemiologic description of alcohol probl ems in a community; (2) the relationship of alcohol to other health an d social problems; (3) the influence of social policy on the constitut ion of services and care of individuals; and (4) health services issue s of access and pathways to treatment. The project is designed for com parable analysis of studies with special focus on women and ethnic min orities. This paper provides an overview of the CEL, including its maj or research questions, overall design, sampling principles, methodolog ical issues and measures. It highlights the main findings and discusse s the limitations and advantages of such methodologies for further und erstanding alcohol problems in a community.