Development and psychometric evaluation of two substance use disorder knowledge scales

To develop and validate knowledge scales that span the continuum of substance use disorder (SUD) prevention, treatment, and recovery. Study 1 focused on ensuring the content validity of scale items, and study 2 focused on evaluating the structural, convergent, and known groups validity as well as reliability of the scales.

Study 1 included n = 15 experts in the SUD field. Study 2 included n = 5355 community members from throughout the U.S. Both studies were conducted online.

The SUD Prevention Knowledge Scale includes 16 items measuring age-related risk factors, other risk factors, and protective factors for SUD. The SUD Knowledge Scale includes 16 items measuring SUD-related characteristics, treatment and recovery, and medications. Supporting content validity, results of study 1 demonstrated that the scales include items with high item-level content validity indexes. Results of study 2 suggested that three-factor models are appropriate for both scales, supporting structural validity, and that the overall scales and subscales have acceptable reliability scores. Both scales and subscales were correlated with indicators of stigma, supporting convergent validity. Participants who were professionals working in the SUD field had the highest scores on the scales, supporting known groups validity.

Results support the validity and reliability of two new measures of SUD-related knowledge. These scales may be appropriate for basic research to characterize levels of SUD knowledge within community settings as well as explore associations between knowledge and SUD-related health behaviors. They may also be useful for evaluating interventions that aim to promote SUD-related knowledge.