Worker Drug Use and Workplace Policies and Programs:
Results from the 1994 and 1997 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse
1.1
Summary of NHSDA Methodology
The NHSDA is the primary source of statistical
information on the use of tobacco, alcohol, and illicit drugs in the United
States. Conducted periodically by the federal government since 1971, and
annually since 1990, by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
Administration (SAMHSA), the main goal of the survey is to estimate and
monitor trends in the prevalence of substance use in the United States.
In 1994 and 1997, the questionnaire included a supplemental module that
asked questions specifically about workplace issues, including involvement
in accidents, alcohol and drug testing, and reasons for involuntarily leaving
an employer.
Data were collected by trained survey interviewers
in selected respondents=
homes. The interview took approximately one hour to complete and incorporated
procedures designed to maximize truthful responses to potentially sensitive
questions about illicit drug use (e.g., the use of self-administered answer
sheets). Data were collected on the recency and frequency of use of various
licit and illicit drugs, opinions about drugs, problems associated with
drug use, and drug treatment experiences. In addition, the NHSDA collected
basic demographic information on age, race/ethnicity, education, employment
status, occupation, income, marital status, physical and mental health
status, health service and treatment information, criminal behavior, and
workplace information such as substance use policies and drug testing.
Appendix B provides a detailed description of the NHSDA methodology.
The principal drug use measures analyzed
in this report are current illicit drug use (use of any illicit drug in
the past 30 days) and heavy alcohol use (drinking five or more drinks on
the same occasion on one occasion on five or more days in the past 30 days).
In this report, these past-month measures are used to coincide more closely
with employment status, which is measured at the time of interview. Appendix
C provides a detailed list of questions that were used in the analysis
of this report, including the questions from the special NHSDA workplace
module.
This report presents rates of illicit drug
use and heavy alcohol use among workers and the number of workers reporting
illicit drug use and heavy alcohol use for 1994 and 1997. Tests of statistical
significance were performed for comparisons of prevalence estimates between
the two years. In addition, the standard errors of the rates of illicit
drug use and heavy alcohol use are reported in Appendix A, which enables
interested readers to perform additional hypothesis testing.
This page was last updated on December 30, 2008.
SAMHSA, an agency in the Department of Health and Human Services, is the Federal
Government's lead agency for improving the quality and availability of
substance abuse prevention, addiction treatment, and mental health
services in the United States.
