SELF-ADMINISTERED NICOTINE-DEPENDENCE SCALE (SANDS) - ITEM SELECTION,RELIABILITY ESTIMATION, AND INITIAL VALIDATION

The Self-Administered Nicotine-Dependence Scale (SANDS) is a questionn aire to assist in the determination of the most appropriate interventi on for the nicotine-dependent individual. Six content domains included are: (1) self-efficacy; (2) social skills deficit; (3) loss of contro l; (4) consequences of use; (5) social support for smoking; and (6) co ncern for healthy life-style. A preliminary set of 79 items was reduce d to a 32-item scale, which, in turn, was divided into two non-overlap ping subscales of 16 items each. Logistic regression analyses of an ad ditional sample of subjects indicated that the SANDS added predictive power to knowledge of sex and transdermal-patch status for predictions of smoking status 6 months later.