title: A validated questionnaire to assess the knowledge of psychiatric aspects of alcohol use disorder.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  To the best of our knowledge, there is no validated instrument for measuring knowledge of psychiatric aspects of alcohol use disorder (AUD) amongst medical students. Our aim was to develop an instrument for this purpose and to describe the instrument's psychometric properties. We also investigated whether the instrument could demonstrate a significant change in scores following an educational intervention consisting of a 60-minute PowerPoint lecture on AUD, associated handouts, and role-plays.
  
  
  METHODS
  The Knowledge of Psychiatric Aspects of Alcohol Questionnaire (KPAAQ) was developed from the Kaplan and Saddock textbook synopsis chapter on alcohol related disorders. The questionnaire included 6 categories of clinically relevant material: metabolism of alcohol, short-term effects of alcohol, long-term effects of alcohol, AUD, alcohol withdrawal, and alcohol use in pregnancy. The KPAAQ was administered to 75 medical students in Years 4 and 5 from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Israel, during a relevant clinical rotation. Following the initial administration of the KPAAQ, the students attended a 60-minute lecture (in Hebrew) based on material from the University of Sydney's learning module on alcohol. The KPAAQ was readministered to the students immediately following the lecture.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The KPAAQ demonstrated good reliability (Cronbach α =.92 for all questions) and validity r(209) =.674, P <.001. Knowledge of alcohol and alcoholism significantly increased after the educational intervention (F(2, 154) = 151.60, P <.001). Post hoc comparisons using the Scheffe test revealed a significant positive change in knowledge after students received the intervention (mean difference = 33, P <.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These initial findings suggest that the KPAAQ is a reliable and valid instrument for assessing medical student knowledge of psychiatric aspects of AUD over 6 clinical categories.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Consultation and Liaison Psychiatry , Shaare Zedek Medical Centre, Hebrew University , Jerusalem , Israel.
authors.forename: Sol
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jaworowski
authors.forename: Garry
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Walter
authors.forename: Nerissa
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Soh
authors.forename: Yossi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Freier Dror
authors.forename: Joseph
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mergui
authors.forename: Cornelius
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gropp
authors.forename: Paul S
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Haber
mesh_terms: D019973:Alcohol-Related Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D004504:Education, Medical, Undergraduate; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013337:Students, Medical / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Alcoholism; dual-diagnosis psychiatry; education