Evaluating specific community structural changes. Examples from the assessment of responsible beverage service

Responsible Beverage Service (RBS) refers to the idea that bars and restaurants may be able to have a significant impact on the levels of deaths and injuries associated with alcohol consumption including, but not limited to alcohol-impaired driving. After a brief background on RBS as a prevention strategy, the authors review the different measures, protocols, and designs that have been employed in evaluations of responsible service programs with attention paid to the strengths and limitations accompanying each choice. This article concludes by describing the Prevention Research Center's Community Trials Project design as it relates to evaluating its RBS component, and some of the unique considerations that influenced the measures and protocols employed. In so doing, the authors discover how the larger project serves as an interesting case study in action research.