TEST-RETEST RELIABILITY OF PSYCHOACTIVE SUBSTANCE-ABUSE AND DEPENDENCE DIAGNOSES IN TELEPHONE INTERVIEWS USING A MODIFIED DIAGNOSTIC INTERVIEW SCHEDULE SUBSTANCE-ABUSE MODULE

The test-retest reliability of lifetime substance abuse and dependence diagnoses obtained by telephone interviewers was investigated. Traine d personnel administered two identical interviews based on a modified Diagnostic Interview Schedule-Substance Abuse Module (DIS-SAM) approxi mately a week apart for 100 respondents. of whom 55 were receiving alc ohol or other drug treatment and 45 were randomly selected from reside ntial households in one Michigan county. The uncorrected agreement for all lifetime dependence diagnoses exceeded 93% for all six categories assessed and the more conservative chance corrected agreement (Cohen' s Kappa coefficient kappa) was .92 (alcohol),.76 (marijuana),.87 (coca ine), and .71 (other opiates). Kappa coefficients for hallucinogens an d heroin dependence could not be calculated due to low (i.e., 5% or le ss) base rates. Likewise, kappa was calculated only for a single abuse diagnosis, alcohol, with kappa = .42 and 95% agreement. In the interp retation of kappa, the standard applied was: kappa ranging from .41 to .60 represented moderate agreement, kappa ranging from .61 to .80 rep resented substantial agreement, and kappa ranging from .81 to 1.00 rep resented excellent agreement. Thus, test-retest reliability was excell ent for lifetime alcohol and cocaine dependence and was substantial fo r lifetime marijuana and other opiates dependence. These results indic ate that lifetime psychoactive substance abuse diagnoses can be obtain ed fairly reliably over the telephone using trained lay interviewers.