Heroin and cocaine craving and use during treatment: measurement validation and potential relationships.
Although commonly assessed with unidimensional scales, craving has been suggested to be multifaceted and to have a complex relationship with drug use and relapse. This study assessed the consistency and predictive validity of unidimensional and multidimensional craving scales. At the beginning of a 12-week outpatient treatment trial, opiate users (n = 101) and cocaine users (n = 72) completed unidimensional visual analog scales (VASs) assessing "want," "need," and "craving" and multidimensional 14- and 45-item versions of the Cocaine Craving Questionnaire (CCQ) or Heroin Craving Questionnaire (HCQ). Spearman correlations between the VASs and the first-order factors from the 45-item CCQ/HCQ were .20-.40, suggesting that the two types of assessment were not redundant. Treatment dropout and in-treatment drug use were more frequently predicted by scores on the 14- or 45-item CCQ than by VAS ratings. Results suggest that the CCQ/HCQ and the 14-item CCQ provide information that unidimensional VASs do not.
Heinz
Adrienne J
AJ
Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics Branch, Intramural Research Program, National Institute on Drug Abuse, Baltimore, MD 21224, USA. heinza@intra.nida.nih.gov
Epstein
David H
DH
Schroeder
Jennifer R
JR
Singleton
Edward G
EG
Heishman
Stephen J
SJ
Preston
Kenzie L
KL
D000328:Adult; D000553:Ambulatory Care; D003042:Cocaine / Q000009:adverse effects*; D019970:Cocaine-Related Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D005260:Female; D003932:Heroin / Q000009:adverse effects*; D006556:Heroin Dependence / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009042:Motivation; D010147:Pain Measurement / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010352:Patient Dropouts / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010555:Personality Inventory / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012008:Recurrence; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D020377:Self Efficacy; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D015813:Substance Abuse Detection / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D013375:Substance Withdrawal Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016312:Treatment Refusal / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
D003932:Heroin; D003042:Cocaine