Reliability of a questionnaire on substance use among adolescent students, Brazil

OBJECTIVE: To analyze reliability of a self-applied questionnaire on substance use and misuse among adolescent students. METHODS: Two cross-sectional studies were carried out for the instrument test-retest. The sample comprised male and female students aged 1119 years from public and private schools (elementary, middle, and high school students) in the city of Salvador, Northeastern Brazil, in 2006. A total of 591 questionnaires were applied in the test and 467 in the retest. Descriptive statistics, the Kappa index, Cronbach's alpha and intraclass correlation were estimated. RESULTS: The prevalence of substance use/misuse was similar in both test and retest. Sociodemographic variables showed a "moderate" to "almost perfect" agreement for the Kappa index, and a "satisfactory" (>0.75) consistency for Cronbach's alpha and intraclass correlation. The age which psychoactive substances (tobacco, alcohol, and cannabis) were first used and chronological age were similar in both studies. Test-retest reliability was found to be a good indicator of students' age of initiation and their patterns of substance use. CONCLUSIONS: The questionnaire reliability was found to be satisfactory in the population studied.

Bibliographic Details

Main Authors:	Machado Neto,Adelmo de Souza, Andrade,Tarcisio Matos, Fernandes,Gilênio Borges, Zacharias,Helder Paulo, Carvalho,Fernando Martins, Machado,Ana Paula Souza, Dias,Ana Carmen Costa, Garcia,Ana Carolina Rocha, Santana,Lauro Reis, Rolin,Carlos Eduardo, Sampaio,Cyntia, Ghiraldi,Gisele, Bastos,Francisco Inácio
Format:	Digital revista
Language:	English
Published:	Faculdade de Saúde Pública da Universidade de São Paulo 2010
Online Access:	http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0034-89102010000500008
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