Temporal stability of the timeline followback interview for alcohol and drug use with psychiatric outpatients.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the test-retest reliability of the Timeline Followback (TLFB) interview for assessing daily alcohol and drug use with adults living with a severe mental illness.


METHODS
Participants were 132 psychiatric outpatients (64% men) with a confirmed schizophrenia-spectrum (52%) or major mood disorder (48%) and a lifetime history of substance use disorder. They completed a 90-day TLFB twice, separated by a mean of 5 days, and represented 55% of the participants who originally consented to be in the study.


RESULTS
Test-retest reliability coefficients ranged from 0.73 to 1.00 (rounded) for 30-day TLFB and from 0.77 to 1.00 (rounded) for the 90-day TLFB. Within-subject comparisons of means across the three 30-day windows revealed no significant differences, and no degradation of the magnitude of the reliability coefficients was observed with increasingly distant assessment periods.


CONCLUSIONS
The TLFB is a reliable method of assessing alcohol and drug use in outpatients diagnosed with severe mental illness.
Carey
Kate B
KB
Center for Health and Behavior, Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York 13244-2340, USA. kbcarey@syr.edu
Carey
Michael P
MP
Maisto
Stephen A
SA
Henson
James M
JM
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000553:Ambulatory Care / Q000379:methods* / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007406:Interview, Psychological / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D008875:Middle Aged; D010045:Outpatients / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D013997:Time Factors