Psychometric Properties of the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test-Consumption (AUDIT-C) in Public First Responders

ABSTRACT

Problematic alcohol consumption is prevalent among first responders because alcohol is commonly used to cope with occupational stress and frequent exposure to traumatic incidents, making them an at-risk population for alcohol use disorders (AUD). This study investigated the psychometric properties of the Korean version of the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test-Consumption (AUDIT-C) among public first responders. The Structured Clinical Interview for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-IV-Text Revision (SCID), AUDIT-C, AUDIT, and CAGE were administered to 222 public first responders, who were recruited by convenience sampling. One-week test–retest reliability was evaluated in a subsample (n = 24). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analyses were conducted to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy and estimate the optimal cut-off scores for any AUD and alcohol dependence. Three different analytic criteria were utilized to calculate the cut-off scores. The AUDIT-C demonstrated good test–retest reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient for test–retest reliability = 0.91) and satisfactory convergent validity. The areas under the ROC curves for any AUD and alcohol dependence of the AUDIT-C were 0.87 and 0.93, respectively. For any AUD, all three criteria suggested a cut-off score of 7.5 (sensitivity = 81.8%, specificity = 79.8%), whereas for alcohol dependence, a cut-off score of 8.5 (sensitivity = 85.7%, specificity = 86.1%) was derived from two criteria. In conclusion, the AUDIT-C demonstrated good reliability and validity and proved to be a brief and effective screening test for AUD among first responders.

KEYWORDS:

• Alcohol use disorder
• first responder
• reliability
• receiver operating characteristic curve
• validity

Declaration of interest

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

Funding

This study was supported by the grant from the Korean Ministry of Health and Welfare (A121080, I.K.L.) and by the Fire Fighting Safety & 119 Rescue Technology Research and Development Program funded by the Ministry of Public Safety and Security (MPSS-Fire Fighting Safety-2016-86, J.E.K.).