Training bar staff in preventing and managing aggression in licensed premises

Objectives: (1) to evaluate changes in knowledge and attitudes of participants in the "Safer Bars" training programme to reduce aggression in bars; (2) to assess the relationship of scores on knowledge/attitudes questionnaires with participant's role in bar, gender and years of experience, and geographic location of the bar; and (3) to assess consumer satisfaction and elicit subjective feedback regarding the programme. Methods: Five hundred and twenty-two bar staff and managers from 23 bars completed knowledge/attitude tests before and after the 3-h training and provided consumer satisfaction ratings. Results: Participants rated the training very highly and showed significant improvements in knowledge and attitudes related to preventing aggression and managing problem behaviour. In multivariate analyses, being male, having more years of experience, being a manager or bartender and being employed at a city-centre bar were all independent predictors of higher pre-test training scores; however, only being a manager and being employed at a city-centre bar significantly predicted higher scores on post-test knowledge and attitudes. Conclusions: The positive response to the "Safer Bars" training and the significant improvement in knowledge and attitudes indicate that programmes of this type have the potential to be an effective public health strategy for reducing bar-related violence and injury.