Severity of alcohol problems at follow-up--an outcome measure

An ordinal scale to measure severity of alcohol problems in a follow-up study was constructed. The measure refers to the preceding 6 months and is based on reports of amount of alcohol consumed, drinking pattern, signs of alcohol dependence and time sober. The measure was tested on 300 patients reinvestigated about 2 1/2 years after discharge for inpatient treatment for alcoholism. Thirteen percent of the patients had no alcohol problems and 22% had severe alcohol problems. Rather more than one quarter of the group (27%) were classified as positive intermediates and 38% as negative intermediates. These results were compared with other data and information obtained from official records. It was concluded that the measure had satisfactory validity.