Rocky Mountain Research

• A New Tool to Measure the Impact of Workplace Critical Incident Response. Patricia Herlihy and Matt Mollenhauser. International EAPA Conference in LA, October 6, 2017.

• Elder Care and the Workplace: An Invisible Issue  Caffo, Sandra; Greer, Kathleen and Herlihy, Patricia, A. (2016).. WorkSpan. 2, (20-25).

PROJECTS

• The Employee Assistance Digital Archive:  Collaboration with the University of Maryland, Baltimore School of Social work in developing, implementing and creation of a digital archive to preserve historical documents and current articles in the Employee Assistance Field. Main focus in 2016 has been around finding relevant historical documents: letters, photos, white papers and older articles where the author is now deceased.

• EASNA Research Notes: continuing collaboration with Tracy McPhearson with the role of continuing attention to main areas of research in the EA Field… and support authors to produce solid articles to help disseminate their results.

• Oversite of CIR Measurement Test - The beta test will be conducted in association with Patricia Herlihy Ph.D., RN, owner of Rocky Mountain Research (RMR), a consulting practice that focuses on EAP, Work/Life and Wellness Benefit Delivery Models; RMR will be responsible for recruiting study participants, administering the surveys and collecting the data.

(PR Release:http://chestnutglobalpartners.org/About-Us/In-the-News)

• Critical Incident Response via an EAP Lens: Literature Review.

PRESENTATIONS

• Herlihy, Patricia. (2015). Update on Eldercare and EAPs. National Behavioral Consortium, Savannah, GA

• The Challenges of EAP and Eldercare Caregiving National Behavioral Consortium. Boulder, Colorado


• Role of Nurse Researcher - Washington Adventis University School of Nursing - Graduate Program, Takoma, MD

PROJECTS

• *Coordination of EASNA Research Notes in collaboration with KTR Chair - Tracy McPherson

• Committee Member for SBIRT Learning Collaborative: NORC at the University of Chicago has partnered with the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE), the Center for Clinical Social (CCSW) and the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) to engage nursing and social work schools in a learning collaborative to develop and evaluate interactive, competency-based substance use screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment (SBIRT) curriculum. This project is funded by a grant from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation and is focused on encouraging the adoption of SBIRT by social work and nursing educators. The learning collaborative will work to infus ts in general survey, clinical, behavioral health, and maternal and child health coursework, not just specialty courses in undergraduate and graduate social work and nursing schools.

EAP Research Summit – October, 2012 The Research Summit brought together representatives from the government and foundations (i.e. funders) with researchers, academics, and EA professionals. Over 75 p4rofesionals were invited with final attendance of approximately 65. The goal was to develop an EAP practice-based research network to conceive, articulate, and follow through on pursuing needed EAP research concerns. The day included discussions on EA research interests, including veterans’ workplace re-integration, drug and alcohol issues, health and productivity, crisis response, and general mental health issues. An official Proceedings Report will be published and available in early 2013. 

 Liaison with ORCAS on NIDA Study: Fit to Perform – Principal Investigators: Tracy McPhearson Ph.D and Susan Schroeder Ph.D. – contracted to obtain needed National sample of 350 Nursing Supervisors from to participate in Beta Testing of Multidimensional Training Tool concerning Supervision of Impaired Professionals.

Qualitative Study of Thought Leaders involved in BIG Initiative: Year long qualitative study conducted via telephone interviews to ascertain the historical significance of this particular initiative in the EAP field – Co-Principal Investigator: Judy Mickenberg LICSW.

Consultant to Major Benchmarking Study on the “Creating a Comprehensive Benchmarking Resource of Metrics for the External EAP Field” funded by Employee Assistance Research Foundation. Principal Investigator Stan Granberry Ph.D.

• EARF - Systematic Surveillance of SBIRT Practices for Alcohol Use and Related Behavioral Health Conditions in the EAP Field.  Patricia A. Herlihy Ph.D., R.N. and Tracy L. McPherson Ph.D.,

Abstract

Alcohol abuse and dependence is recognized as one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in the U.S., and by 2020, the World Health Organizations expects depression to be the leading cause of disability worldwide.  Alcohol is the most widely used substance among working adults. Approximately 80% of risky drinkers are employed. Studies estimate that 23% of U.S. adults do not meet diagnostic criteria for an alcohol use disorder yet engage in hazardous drinking. Workers in this group often go unidentified, increasing risk for health, emotional, social, legal, and relationship problems. In U.S. and Canadian workplaces, alcohol abuse and depression represent two of the most common and costly behavioral health problems, and are associated with employee absenteeism, tardiness, presenteeism, higher healthcare costs, accidents, and decreased productivity. Healthcare costs associated with alcohol problems are estimated at $185 billion (greater than diabetes, high blood pressure and asthma combined). It is for these reasons that many are looking for better ways to address behavioral health issues in the workplace through adoption of screening, brief intervention and referral to treatment (SBIRT) as an evidence-based practice for detecting and treating workers with behavioral health issues. The purpose of this study is to identify the use of evidence-based SBIRT practices for alcohol and other behavioral health conditions throughout the EAP community within North America. The sample will include internal, external, and blended EAPs. Online surveys and telephone interviews will be the main methodology used to gather data. Descriptive statistics, parametric and non-parametric tests of significance will be used to analyze continuous and discrete data. Content analysis will be used to analyze qualitative data. In summary, the primary focus is continuing the surveillance of the adoption of SBIRT practices for behavioral health conditions throughout the U.S. and Canada.