Psychometric properties of the RAPS4 alcohol screening test in Argentina, Mexico and United States.

CREMONTE, MARIANA; LEDESMA, RUBÉN; CHERPITEL, CHERYL J.; BORGES, GUILHERME

Conferencia; V Conference of the International Network of Brief Intervention on Alcohol problems; 2008

Objective: Although a number of screening instruments for alcohol use disorders and risk drinking have been developed, with a few exceptions they have only been assesed in regards to some validity measure, most frequently sensitivity and specificity.  From these screening tests the Rapid Alcohol Problems Screen (RAPS4) has been found to posses the best performance  in relation to sensitivity and specificity  for both males and females across different countries and cultural settings. Thus, the objective of this presentation is to asses some psychometric properties of the RAPS4 and compare them across three countries: Argentina, México and the United States. Methods Samples were probabilisticaly drawn from emergency room injured patients. Elegible participants in each country were interviewed with a similar questionnaire. In Argentina the sample (n=528) was collected from a public general hospital in Mar del Plata, Buenos Aires; from three ERs in Pachuca,  México (n=546); and in the U.S.A from an ER in Santa Clara, CA(n=210). Descriptive statistics (Mean and S.D.) for the RAPS4´s total scores are computed for each country. The internal consistency of the RAPS scores is estimated by the KR-20 formula. Corrected Point-biserial correlation is used as an item discrimination measure.  Proportion of RAPS´s indicator presence among each country is also reported. Results Given its few items, internal consistency of the RAPS4 scores is good in the three countries. Item discrimination index is over .40 for all items in the total sample. The best discriminating item in all three countries is the one evaluating Performance. The item most often answered positive in the three countries is the one evaluating Remorse. Conclusions Reliability and item discrinination measures are higher in the US than in Argentina and México.  These results are consistent with others indicating a higher validity in the US. However the RAPS4 presents overall, good psychometric properties in all three countries.