title: Are emergency department patients more likely to answer alcohol questions in a masked health questionnaire?
abstract: The development of approaches to screening of hospital patients for harmful drinking frequently encounters resistance from both patients and hospital staff. A contributing factor could be the discomfort both feel about talking specifically about drinking. One approach to reducing this discomfort has been to mask concern about alcohol consumption into a general focus on other health and lifestyle issues. One-hundred and eighty-two patients admitted to an emergency department were presented randomly with either a straight alcohol screening questionnaire or a general health and lifestyle questionnaire with alcohol questions embedded amongst items on smoking exercise and diet. The number of returns was equal for both questionnaires which suggests the masked questionnaire does not improve the acceptability of alcohol screening in hospital environments.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Science, School of Medicine, University of Auckland, New Zealand.
authors.forename: P J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Adams
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Stevens
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008019:Life Style; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening; D008487:Medical History Taking; D008875:Middle Aged; D009520:New Zealand / Q000453:epidemiology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014342:Truth Disclosure