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Interpretation of items in the AUDIT questionnaire
Kypros Kypri1, Rob McGee, John B Saunders
1Injury Prevention Research Unit, Department of Preventive and Social Medicine, University of Otago Medical School, P. O. Box 913, Dunedin, New Zealand.
Alcohol and Alcoholism (Oxford, Oxfordshire)
|September 10, 2002
Summary
Tertiary students may misinterpret Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) items. Refining question wording changed responses to specific items but not overall AUDIT scores, suggesting potential for false positives.
Area of Science:
- Psychometrics
- Alcohol Use Research
- Higher Education Health
Background:
- The Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) is a widely used screening tool for hazardous alcohol consumption.
- Misinterpretation of AUDIT items by specific populations, such as tertiary students, could impact the accuracy of screening results.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate potential misinterpretations of specific items within the AUDIT by tertiary students.
- To assess the impact of revised item wording on response patterns and overall AUDIT scores.
Main Methods:
- A comparative approach was used, contrasting student responses to standard AUDIT items with responses to alternative, more specifically worded versions.
- Focus was placed on items related to the consequences of drinking.
Main Results:
- Modifying the wording of AUDIT items 5 and 9 to more precisely define the drinking consequences led to significant shifts in response distributions for those specific items.
- Despite changes in individual item responses, the total AUDIT scores remained largely unaffected by the wording alterations.
Conclusions:
- Findings suggest that while individual AUDIT items may be subject to misinterpretation, potentially affecting their utility as specific consequence measures in surveys, total scores may be more robust.
- Caution is advised when interpreting individual AUDIT item responses in population surveys, and the potential for false positives in total scores should be considered.