Revising the Cannabis Use Disorders Identification Test (CUDIT) by means of Item Response Theory.
Details
Serval ID
serval:BIB_716F1B837110
Type
Article: article from journal or magazin.
Collection
Publications
Institution
Title
Revising the Cannabis Use Disorders Identification Test (CUDIT) by means of Item Response Theory.
Journal
International Journal of Methods In Psychiatric Research
ISSN
1049-8931[print], 1049-8931[linking]
Publication state
Published
Issued date
2010
Volume
19
Number
3
Pages
142-155
Language
english
Abstract
Cannabis use among adolescents and young adults has become a major public health challenge. Several European countries are currently developing short screening instruments to identify 'problematic' forms of cannabis use in general population surveys. One such instrument is the Cannabis Use Disorders Identification Test (CUDIT), a 10-item questionnaire based on the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test. Previous research found that some CUDIT items did not perform well psychometrically. In the interests of improving the psychometric properties of the CUDIT, this study replaces the poorly performing items with new items that specifically address cannabis use. Analyses are based on a sub-sample of 558 recent cannabis users from a representative population sample of 5722 individuals (aged 13-32) who were surveyed in the 2007 Swiss Cannabis Monitoring Study. Four new items were added to the original CUDIT. Psychometric properties of all 14 items, as well as the dimensionality of the supplemented CUDIT were then examined using Item Response Theory. Results indicate the unidimensionality of CUDIT and an improvement in its psychometric performance when three original items (usual hours being stoned; injuries; guilt) are replaced by new ones (motives for using cannabis; missing out leisure time activities; difficulties at work/school). However, improvements were limited to cannabis users with a high problem score. For epidemiological purposes, any further revision of CUDIT should therefore include a greater number of 'easier' items.
Keywords
cannabis, CUDIT, screening, cannabis abuse, Item Response Theory, alcohol-use disorders, psychometric evaluation, outcomes measurement, young-adults, test audit, dsm-iv, adolescents, dependence, criteria, abuse
Pubmed
Web of science
Create date
21/10/2010 7:48
Last modification date
20/08/2019 14:29