TY - JOUR
T1 - Alcohol and Drug Use Screening among Justice-Involved Persons
AU - Bradshaw, Spencer D.
AU - Wang, Eugene W.
AU - Meeks, Samuel
AU - Chroback, Kelly
AU - Hirsch, Sarah
AU - Goad, Chloe
N1 - Funding Information:
The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article. The authors would like to acknowledge the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, without whose help this study would not have been possible.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Taylor & Francis.
PY - 2022
Y1 - 2022
N2 - (a) Objective: This study examined the reliability and validity of the Texas Risk Assessment System (TRAS) alcohol and drug use screeners. (b) Method: We examined internal consistency, inter-item correlations, and used confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and item response theory (IRT) to assess item-specific information regarding a single latent dimension of substance use severity. (c) Results: Results supported the TRAS alcohol and drug screeners to measure a single dimension of alcohol and drug use severity. More specifically, the instruments appear to be effective screeners of moderate to severe alcohol use problems, and thus effective screeners for referral for further assessment and possible treatment. (d) Conclusions: Treatment can only be provided for problems that are well defined and diagnosed. Continuing evaluation of substance abuse screeners and assessment is important, especially for justice-involved persons. Effective screeners can lead to more people getting needed assessment and treatment. Recommendations were to drop one item on each screener due to redundancy.
AB - (a) Objective: This study examined the reliability and validity of the Texas Risk Assessment System (TRAS) alcohol and drug use screeners. (b) Method: We examined internal consistency, inter-item correlations, and used confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and item response theory (IRT) to assess item-specific information regarding a single latent dimension of substance use severity. (c) Results: Results supported the TRAS alcohol and drug screeners to measure a single dimension of alcohol and drug use severity. More specifically, the instruments appear to be effective screeners of moderate to severe alcohol use problems, and thus effective screeners for referral for further assessment and possible treatment. (d) Conclusions: Treatment can only be provided for problems that are well defined and diagnosed. Continuing evaluation of substance abuse screeners and assessment is important, especially for justice-involved persons. Effective screeners can lead to more people getting needed assessment and treatment. Recommendations were to drop one item on each screener due to redundancy.
KW - Alcohol; drug; assessment; screening; item response theory
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85116806080&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/07347324.2021.1972776
DO - 10.1080/07347324.2021.1972776
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85116806080
SN - 0734-7324
VL - 40
SP - 4
EP - 21
JO - Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly
JF - Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly
IS - 1
ER -