Reliability of a drug history questionnaire (DHQ)

Drug abusers' self-reports are vital to clinical and research endeavors, yet few studies have explicitly examined the test-retest reliability of drug abusers' reports of their pretreatment drug use. The present study evaluated the test-retest reliability of drug abusers' reports of (a) lifetime drug use using a drug history questionnaire (DHQ), and (b) demographic and drug-related events. Intraclass and Pearson correlation coefficients revealed reasonably good reliability for most reports of drug use and related events. Further research needs in this area are discussed.