title: Validation of the French version of the alcohol, smoking and substance involvement screening test (ASSIST) in the elderly.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Substance use disorders seem to be an under considered health problem amongst the elderly. The Alcohol, Smoking and Substance Involvement Screening Test (ASSIST), was developed by the World Health Organization to detect substance use disorders. The present study evaluates the psychometric properties of the French version of ASSIST in a sample of elderly people attending geriatric outpatient facilities (primary care or psychiatric facilities).
  
  
  METHODS
  One hundred persons older than 65 years were recruited from clients attending a geriatric policlinic day care centre and from geriatric psychiatric facilities. Measures included ASSIST, Addiction Severity Index (ASI), Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI-Plus), Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT), Revised Fagerstrom Tolerance Questionnaire-Smoking (RTQ) and MiniMental State(MMS).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Concurrent validity was established with significant correlations between ASSIST scores, scores from ASI, AUDIT, RTQ, and significantly higher ASSIST scores for patients with a MINI-Plus diagnosis of abuse or dependence. The ASSIST questionnaire was found to have high internal consistency for the total substance involvement along with specific substance involvement as assessed by Cronbach's α, ranging from 0.66, to 0.89 .
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The findings demonstrate that ASSIST is a valid screening test for identifying substance use disorders in elderly.
authors.affiliation: Division for Addictology Department of Mental Health and Psychiatry, University Hospitals, Geneva University, Geneva, Switzerland. riaz.khan@hcuge.ch
authors.forename: Riaz
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Khan
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Chatton
authors.forename: Gabriel
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Thorens
authors.forename: Sophia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Achab
authors.forename: Audrey
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nallet
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Broers
authors.forename: Gerard
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Calzada
authors.forename: Vladimir
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Poznyak
authors.forename: Daniele
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Zullino
authors.forename: Yasser
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Khazaal
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D019973:Alcohol-Related Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000295:instrumentation; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013557:Switzerland; D014029:Tobacco Use Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis*