Measurements, Instruments, Scales, and Tests A Comparison of the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale for “Heavy Drinking” with a Single Item Craving Measure: Construct Validity and Clinical Utility

Abstract

The measurement of alcohol “craving” began with single-item scales. Multifactorial scales developed with the intention to capture more fully the phenomenon of craving. This study examines the construct validity of a multifactorial scale, the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale for heavy drinking (Y-BOCS-hd.) The study compares its clinical utility with a single item visual-analogue craving scale. The study include 212 alcohol dependent subjects (127 males, 75 females) undertaking an outpatient treatment program between 1999–2000. Subjects completed the YBOCS-hd and a single item visual-analogue scale, in addition to alcohol consumption and dependence severity measures. The YBOCS-hd had strong construct validity. Both the visual-analogue alcohol “craving” scale and Y-BOCS-hd were weakly associated with pretreatment dependence severity. There was a significant association between pretreatment alcohol consumption and the visual-analogue “craving” scale. Neither “craving” measure was able to predict total program abstinence or days abstinent. The relationship between obsessive-compulsive behavior in alcohol dependence and “craving” remains unclear.

Keywords:

• craving
• alcohol
• YBOCS-hd
• measurement
• relapse
• problem drinking