Alcohol use inventory: screening and assessment of first-time driving-while-impaired offenders. I. Reliability and profiles.
This study evaluated the use of the Alcohol Use Inventory (AUI) in a drink-driving offender population court-mandated to attend a screening programme. We compared offenders' scale scores, reliability statistics and profiles to those from two clinical populations on which the AUI was normed. Among offenders, males and females had similar levels of involvement with alcohol, and Native Americans had higher scale scores than other ethnic groups. Comparisons with the normative population revealed lower mean scale scores and lower reliability scores among offenders. Differences between the offender and normative populations were most pronounced for the primary scales. We also found inconsistencies in offenders' responses to certain questions. To address this, we recommend that, when using the AUI for screening offenders: (1) screeners place more emphasis on second- and third-order scales than primary scales; (2) lower cut-off points be used for identifying problem drinkers; (3) counsellors conduct in-person interviews with clients to develop rapport and encourage self-disclosure.
Behavioral Health Research Center of the Southwest, 6624 Gulton Court NE, Albuquerque, NM 87109, USA.
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Chang
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Lapham
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Wanberg
D000328:Adult; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000523:psychology; D001334:Automobile Driving / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D005260:Female; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007198:Indians, North American / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008297:Male; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012107:Research Design; D014481:United States; D044465:White People / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data