The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA

Abstract #72520

Eric D. Wish, PhD¹, George S. Yacoubian, PhD², Tom Gray, MA¹, and Jill Choyka, BA¹. (1) Center for Substance Abuse Research (CESAR), University of Maryland, College Park, 4321 Hartwick Road, Suite 501, College Park, MD 20740, 301-403-8329, ewish@cesar.umd.edu, (2) McFarland and Associates, Inc, 8601 Georgia Avenue, Suite 601, Silver Spring, MD 20910

Previous studies have concluded that survey respondents often underreport their involvement in the use of illicit drugs. Despite this underreporting, few recent experiments have attempted to improve the validity of self-reported drug use. In the current study, 587 adult male arrestees were surveyed with the Substance Abuse Need for Treatment among Arrestees (SANTA) interview. Arrestees were exposed to one of two conditions. The first – the standard SANTA collection procedure – collected a urine specimen after the interview had been completed. The second – the Test First Technique (TFT) – required that the urine specimen be collected and its results shared with the arrestee before administration of the interview. We hypothesized that respondents surveyed with the TFT would be more likely to self-report recent drug-using behaviors, and be diagnosed as drug dependent, than they would under the standard procedure. Respondents surveyed with the TFT were significantly more likely to self-report recent marijuana, cocaine, and opiate use. Specifically, if a male arrestee was surveyed under the TFT condition, the adjusted odds ratio (OR) of self-reported three-day cocaine use was more than six times (OR = 6.21; 95% CI: 2.76-13.99) that of an arrestee surveyed under the standard condition. For three-day opiate use, the odds ratio was almost 10 times (OR = 9.66; 95% CI:1.23-76.08) for TFT compared to the standard condition. In contrast, perceived need for treatment, perceived drug dependence, and diagnosed dependence were comparable between the two subgroups. These findings have potentially important applications in future research with drug-using populations.

Learning Objectives:

• Understand the need for confirmatory testing of recent drug use.
• Articulate a new method that potentially has value in increasing the validity of self-reported recent drug use.

Keywords: Drug Use, Drug Test

Related Web page: www.cesar.umd.edu

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.