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Reliability and Validity of the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) Imbedded Within a General Health Risk Screening Questionnaire: Results of a Survey in 332 Primary Care Patients
Author(s) -
Daeppen JeanBernard,
Yersin Bertrand,
Landry Ulrika,
Pécoud Alain,
Decrey Hedi
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
alcoholism: clinical and experimental research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.267
H-Index - 153
eISSN - 1530-0277
pISSN - 0145-6008
DOI - 10.1111/j.1530-0277.2000.tb02037.x
Subject(s) - alcohol use disorders identification test , audit , cronbach's alpha , medicine , reliability (semiconductor) , test (biology) , psychometrics , family medicine , emergency medicine , poison control , injury prevention , clinical psychology , power (physics) , physics , paleontology , management , quantum mechanics , economics , biology
Background: Self‐administered, general health risk screening questionnaires that are administered while patients wait in the doctor's office may be a reasonable and timesaving approach to address the requirements of preventive medicine in a typical 10‐min medical visit. The psychometric characteristics of the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) incorporated within a health questionnaire (H‐AUDIT) have not been examined. Methods: The reliability and validity of the self‐administered AUDIT were compared between the H‐AUDIT and the AUDIT used as a single scale (S‐AUDIT) in 332 primary care patients. Results: No major demographic or alcohol use characteristics were found between the 166 subjects who completed the H‐AUDIT and the 166 individuals who completed the S‐AUDIT. The test‐retest reliability of the 166 subjects who completed the H‐AUDIT [estimated by Spearman correlation coefficient at a 6‐week interval (0.88), internal consistency (total correlation coefficients for all items ranged from 0.38 to 0.69; Cronbach α index 0.85), and the sensitivity and specificity of the H‐AUDIT were used to identify at‐risk drinkers’ areas under receiver operating characteristic (0.77) and alcohol‐dependent subjects’ areas under receiver operating characteristic (0.89)] was similar to the same measurements obtained with the 166 individuals who completed the S‐AUDIT. Conclusions: The AUDIT incorporated in a health risk screening questionnaire is a reliable and valid self‐administered instrument to identify at‐risk drinkers and alcohol‐dependent individuals in primary care settings.