| More than 95 percent of adults who suffer from substance use disorders fail to connect either with professional treatment services or support groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) (McCoy, C.B., Metsch, L.R., Chitwood, D.D., & Miles, C., 2001; Tighe & Saxe, 2006). When compared to any other occupation, adult construction workers (including union members) demonstrate among the highest heavy alcohol and illicit drug use (Office of Applied Studies, 2007; Popp & Swora, 2001). Research indicates a variety of psychological and environmental barriers likely impede treatment access (Clay, 2007). Less understood is the role of individual attitudes towards seeking professional treatment and appraisal of the consequences of substance use in negatively impacting help-seeking behaviors (Kleinman, Millery, Scimeca, & Polissar, 2002). In addition, union construction workers hold membership in a centuries-old, organizational culture that promotes substance abuse (Sonnenstuhl, 1996). 'Union brotherhood' includes gender role indoctrination into a hypermasculine workplace culture that fosters substance use while discouraging treatment (Taillon, 2002). Union members are expected to demonstrate masculine self-reliance in 'holding their liquor' and managing their substance use without requiring professional help (Bacharach, Bamberger, & Sonnenstuhl, 1994). Social workers and others in union MAPs need to develop a better understanding of factors that impact members' intention to seek treatment for substance use disorders in order to facilitate treatment entry.;This study utilized a cross-sectional survey design to test the relationship between union construction workers' behavioral intention to seek help along three stages of a continuum ranging from ambivalence, to recognition to taking steps, and multiple psychological and environmental predictors. MRA analyses demonstrated that union construction workers' behavioral intention is predicted by their appraisal of negative consequences and adverse effects of their substance use in the workplace, their attitude about masculine self-reliance towards help-seeking, their concern about emotional self-control, and their perception of workplace support of consumption... |
