Reliability of drug users' self-report of economic variables

This study examined the reliability of drug users' self-reported informatio n regarding current work and income. Using a test-retest interval of 48 hou rs, the Risk Behavior Assessment (RBA; National Institute on Drug Abuse, 19 91) was administered twice to 218 drug users currently not in substance abu se treatment recruited from 11 sites participating in the National Institut e on Drug Abuse Cooperative Agreement on HIV/AIDS Community-Based Outreach/ Intervention Research. The RBA is a structured interview questionnaire desi gned to collect drug-taking, sexual behavior, and demographic information. We examined test-retest reliability and found that drug users reliably repo rt current work status and income. This will become an increasingly importa nt issue with the emphasis on health services research.