Revision of the Self-Administered Alcoholism Screening Test (SAAST-R): A Pilot Study

• Published in: Substance use & misuse Vol. 40; no. 6; pp. 789 - 812
• Main Authors: Vickers-Douglas, Kristin S., Patten, Christi A., Decker, Paul A., Offord, Kenneth P., Colligan, Robert C., Islam-Zwart, Kayleen A., Wolter, Troy D., Croghan, Ivana T., Hall-Flavin, Daniel, Hurt, Richard D.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Colchester Informa UK Ltd 2005; Taylor & Francis
• Subjects: Addictive behaviors; Adult; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Alcohol Abuse; alcohol misuse; Alcoholism; Alcoholism - epidemiology; Alcoholism - psychology; Alcoholism and acute alcohol poisoning; alcoholism screening; Biological and medical sciences; Diagnosis; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Health Problems; Humans; Intervention; Male; Mass Screening - methods; Measures (Instruments); Medical sciences; Personality Inventory; Pilot Projects; Pilot studies; Psychoanalysis; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychometrics - methods; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Reproducibility of Results; Research Design; Revisions; SAAST; Screening; Self-Administered Alcoholism Screening Test; Self-Assessment; Selfreport; Time Factors; Toxicology; Human; Pilot; Drug addiction; alcoholism screening; Ethanol; SAAST; Alcoholism; Medical screening; alcohol misuse; Alcoholic beverage; Screening; Addiction; Revision; Self Administered Alcoholism Screening Test; Psychiatry
• ISSN: 1082-6084; 1532-2491
• DOI: 10.1081/JA-200030662

The original Self-Administered Alcoholism Screening Test (SAAST; Swenson and Morse, 1975) is a self-report alcoholism screening measure intended for use with adult medical patients. However, the SAAST does not indicate the recency of alcohol use-related problems, not all items use the appropriate verb tense for assessing lifetime experience of alcohol use-related problems, many of the items contain out-dated language, and the diagnostic criteria for alcohol dependence and alcohol abuse are not fully represented. The SAAST was revised to address these issues. This paper describes the rationale for revision and the process through which the SAAST was revised. Preliminary information about comparability of the original SAAST and the revised version (SAAST-R) was obtained. Data are presented from two intervention trials for smokers in which both the SAAST and SAAST-R were administered. One sample was comprised of participants in recovery from alcoholism (N = 60; 82% male) and the other sample consisted of participants not meeting criteria for alcohol abuse or dependence within the previous year (N = 98; 45% male). The results suggest that the SAAST-R is highly correlated with the original SAAST, has a similar factor structure, good internal consistency, and correctly identifies those in recovery from alcoholism. Areas for refinement in the format and items of the SAAST-R were identified and suggestions for further validation studies are presented.