The Psychometric Properties of the Drug Abuse Screening Test

Background: Substance abuse is a critical problem in most countries, especially in developing ones. Earlydetection is the pre-requisite of early control, for which reliable and valid tools are required. In the presentstudy, we aimed at measuring the psychometric properties of the ۱۰-item Drug Abuse Screening Test (DAST-۱۰)in Iranian individuals.Methods: After translation and back-translation of the questionnaire, ۲۴۴ adults were recruited from TehranMegacity, Iran, and completed the questionnaires. Participants were recruited by a multistage randomizedcluster sampling method. Reliability was determined by Cronbach’s alpha. Also, construct validity wasevaluated using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and exploratory factor analysis (EFA).Findings: The internal consistency using Cronbach's alpha coefficients for the total score of the Persianversion of DAST-۱۰ was ۰.۹۳. EFA evoked only one factor for DAST-۱۰. The CFA for ۱-factor models forDAST-۱۰ indicated an acceptable fit for the proposed models.Conclusion: The results prove desirable reliability and validity of the Persian version of the DAST which canbe utilized as a screening instrument for drug abuse among Iranian adults.

Keywords:

Substance abuse detection , Validation studies , Psychometrics