title: Cross-cultural evaluation of two drinking assessment instruments: alcohol timeline followback and inventory of drinking situations.
abstract: This article describes the psychometric characteristics of two major assessment instruments used in a World Health Organization (WHO) clinical trial: (a) Alcohol Timeline Followback (TLFB, which assesses daily drinking patterns), and (b) Inventory of Drinking Situations (IDS, which assesses antecedents to "heavy" drinking). Clients (N = 308) were outpatient alcohol abusers from four countries (Australia, Canada, Mexico, and Sweden). Generally, the Alcohol TLFB and IDS were shown to be reliable and valid with outpatient alcohol abusers in four countries, and in three languages. These results suggest that the Alcohol TLFB and the IDS can be used in clinical and research settings with Swedish-, Spanish-, and English-speaking alcohol abusers.
authors.affiliation: Center for Psychological Studies, Nova Southeastern University, Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33314, USA. sobelll@nova.edu
authors.forename: L C
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Sobell
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Agrawal
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Annis
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ayala-Velazquez
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Echeverria
authors.forename: G I
authors.initials: GI
authors.lastname: Leo
authors.forename: J K
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Rybakowski
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sandahl
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Saunders
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Thomas
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zióikowski
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D001315:Australia / Q000453:epidemiology; D002170:Canada / Q000453:epidemiology; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008800:Mexico / Q000453:epidemiology; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013548:Sweden / Q000453:epidemiology