Validity and Reliability of the Alcohol, Smoking, and Substance Involvement Screening Test (ASSIST) in University Students

Authors

  • Marcela Tiburcio Sainz Researcher, Ramón de la Fuente Muñiz National Institute of Psychiatry, Calzada México-Xochimilco 101, Col. San Lorenzo Huipulco, Del. Tlalpan, C.P. 14370, Mexico City
  • Ma. Guadalupe Rosete-Mohedano Professor of Nursing, FES Zaragoza, National Autonomous University of Mexico, Av. Guelatao 66, Col. Ejército de Oriente, Del. Iztapalapa, C.P. 09230, Mexico City
  • Guillermina Natera Rey Director of Epidemiological and Psychosocial Research, Ramón de la Fuente Muñiz National Institute of Psychiatry. Calzada México-Xochimilco 101, Col. San Lorenzo Huipulco, Del. Tlalpan, C.P. 14370, Mexico City
  • Nora Angélica Martínez Vélez Researcher, Ramón de la Fuente Muñiz National Institute of Psychiatry, Calzada México-Xochimilco 101, Col. San Lorenzo Huipulco, Del. Tlalpan, C.P. 14370, Mexico City
  • Silvia Carreño García Researcher, Ramón de la Fuente Muñiz National Institute of Psychiatry, Calzada México-Xochimilco 101, Col. San Lorenzo Huipulco, Del. Tlalpan, C.P. 14370, Mexico City
  • Daniel Pérez Cisneros FES Zaragoza, National Autonomous University of Mexico, Av. Guelatao 66, Col. Ejército de Oriente, Del. Iztapalapa, C.P. 09230, Mexico City

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.20882/adicciones.786

Keywords:

Screening test, ASSIST, university students, substance use, reliability, validity.

Abstract

The Alcohol, Smoking and Substance Involvement Screening Test (ASSIST), developed by the World Health Organization (WHO), has been used successfully in many countries, but there are few studies of its validity and reliability for the Mexican population. The objective of this study was to determine the psychometric properties of the self-administered ASSIST test in university students in Mexico. This was an ex post facto non-experimental study with 1,176 undergraduate students, the majority women (70.1%) aged 18-23 years (89.5%) and single (87.5%). To estimate concurrent validity, factor analysis and tests of reliability and correlation were carried out between the subscale for alcohol and AUDIT, those for tobacco and the Fagerström Test, and those for marijuana and DAST-20. Adequate reliability coefficients were obtained for ASSIST subscales for tobacco (alpha = 0.83), alcohol (alpha = 0.76), and marijuana (alpha = 0.73). Significant correlations were found only with the AUDIT (r = 0.71) and the alcohol subscale. The best balance of sensitivity and specificity of the alcohol subscale (83.8% and 80%, respectively) and the largest area under the ROC curve (81.9%) was found with a cutoff score of 8. The self-administered version of ASSIST is a valid screening instrument to identify at-risk cases due to substance use in this population.

References

The study was funded by the Support Program for Innovation and Improvement of Education (PAPIME). grant number PE205813, at the Zaragoza campus of the National Autonomous University of Mexico. The authors wish to thank Raquel Mondragón and Fabiola Santa Cruz Sánchez for their assistance with data analysis.

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Published

2016-03-02

Issue

Vol. 28 No. 1 (2016)

Section

Originals