| Methods |
Controlled before and after study, unit of allocation = US State |
| Participants |
USA
Experimental = Oregon state
Control = 47 remaining US states |
| Interventions |
Server training
Mandated server training policy versus no mandated server training policy. The one day training course covered seven areas;
1) effect of alcohol on the body
2) interaction effects of alcohol with other drugs (prescription and illicit)
3) problem drinking and alcoholism
4) state of Oregon's service laws
5) drinking and driving laws in Oregon and legal liability issues
6) effective server intervention techniques
7) alcohol marketing practices for responsible alcohol service
A standardised written test must be passed by all participants to obtain a permit to serve alcohol. |
| Outcomes |
Injury (single vehicle night‐time crashes) obtained from official records. |
| Notes |
|
| Risk of bias |
| Bias |
Authors' judgement |
Support for judgement |
| Adequate sequence generation? |
High risk |
US state of Oregon which had introduced a mandated responsible server training policy (in December 1986) acted as the experimental site with data from other 47 US states used as control. |
| Allocation concealment? |
High risk |
Inadequate. |
| Blinding?
All outcomes |
Low risk |
Crash data were obtained from the Oregon Highway Division and the Fatal Accident Reporting system of the US Department of Transport. |
| Confounders |
Unclear risk |
Not reported. |
| Data collection methods |
Unclear risk |
Extracted from official records. |
| Withdrawals & dropouts |
Unclear risk |
N/A |
| Intervention integrity |
Unclear risk |
N/A |
| Duration of follow‐up |
Unclear risk |
Crash data were collected for 11 years before and two years after introduction of the policy. |
