Predictive Validity, Diagnostic Accuracy and Test-Retest Reliability of the Strength of Urges to Drink (SUTD) Scale

Emma Beard, Jamie Brown, Robert West, Colin Drummond, Eileen Kaner and Susan Michie
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Emma Beard: Department of Behavioural Science and Health, University College London, London WC1E 7HB, UK
Jamie Brown: Department of Behavioural Science and Health, University College London, London WC1E 7HB, UK
Robert West: Department of Behavioural Science and Health, University College London, London WC1E 7HB, UK
Colin Drummond: National Addiction Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King’s College London, London SE5 8BB, UK
Eileen Kaner: Institute of Health & Society, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE2 4AX, UK
Susan Michie: Department of Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology, University College London, London WC1E 7HB, UK

IJERPH, 2019, vol. 16, issue 19, 1-15

Abstract: This study compared the 1-item Strength of Urges to Drink (SUTD) scale with the 10-item Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) on (i) test-retest reliability, (ii) predictive validity, and (iii) diagnostic accuracy. Data come from 2960 participants taking part in the Alcohol Toolkit Study (ATS), a monthly population survey of adults in England. The long-term test-retest reliability of the SUTD was ‘fair’, but lower than that for the AUDIT (Kappa weighted 0.24 versus 0.49). Individuals with “slight/moderate” urges to drink had higher odds of reporting an attempt to cut down relative to those not experiencing urges (adjusted odds ratios (AdjORs) 1.78 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.43–2.22 and 1.54 95% CI 1.20–1.96). Drinkers reporting “moderate/slight/strong” urges to drink had mean change in consumption scores which were 0.16 (95% CI −0.31 to −0.02), 0.40 (95% CI −0.56 to −0.24) and 0.37 (95% CI −0.69 to −0.05) units lower than those reporting no urges. For all outcomes, strong associations were found with AUDIT scores. The accuracy of the SUTD for discriminating between drinkers who did and did not reduce their consumption was ‘acceptable’, and similar to that for the AUDIT (ROC AUC 0.6). The AUDIT had better diagnostic accuracy in predicting change in alcohol consumption. The SUTD may be an efficient dynamic measure of urges to drink for population surveys and studies assessing the impact of alcohol-reduction interventions.

Keywords: strength of urges to drink (SUTD); validity; reliability; AUDIT (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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