Psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the Cannabis Use Problems Identification Test among Chilean...

In Chile, concerns mount about escalating cannabis use. Thus, it is important to have tools for early identification of at-risk users. The Cannabis Use Problems Identification Test (CUPIT) is a useful screening tool, and the aim of this study was to examine the psychometric properties of its Spanish version among Chilean university students.

The CUPIT was translated into Spanish, pre-tested in a focus group (n=8), and then tested through an online survey (n=3798, 28% response rate). Of the 1061 respondents, 578 reported 12-month cannabis use. Internal reliability, internal structure, and concurrent validity (using the Cannabis Abuse Screening Test [CAST]) were obtained. Test-retest reliability was calculated (n=150) at 3-4 weeks (30% of attrition rate). Discriminative validity was evaluated comparing CUPIT subscales and four DSM-IV diagnostic groups. Receiving operator characteristic (ROC) curve analysis assessed sensitivity and specificity.

Test-retest Pearson correlation between total CUPIT scores of 0.90 (p<0.001), and highly significant Kendall Tau-b coefficients for individual items (p<0.001) indicated excellent reliability. Concordance between the CUPIT and CAST (Pearson correlation 0.73, p<0.001) indicated good concurrent validity. ANOVA revealed significant differences in CUPIT scores between the four DSM-IV diagnostic groups (p<0.001), indicative of good discriminative validity. ROC analysis (gold standard: DSM-IV abuse/dependence) yielded an AUC value of 0.72, indicating acceptable discriminative capability.

The Spanish CUPIT is reliable, valid, and accepted by the university population studied, and, thus, a potentially useful tool for identifying both problematic and at-risk users.