Validity and reliability of the Turkish version of CRAFFT Substance Abuse Screening Test among adolescents

Abstract

Hasan Kandemir,1 Ömer Aydemir,2 Suat Ekinci,3 Salih Selek,4 Sultan B Kandemir,5 Hüseyin Bayazit61Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Harran University, Sanliurfa, 2Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Celal Bayar University, Manisa, 3Balikli Rum Hospital, Istanbul, 4Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston, Texas, USA; 5Department of Psychiatry, Balikligol State Hospital, Sanliurfa, 6Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Harran University, Sanliurfa, TurkeyAim: This study aimed to validate the CRAFFT diagnostic test, against the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders – Fourth Edition, Axis 1-based diagnostic inventory in a Turkish population of adolescents.Method: The 124 adolescents who were 15–18 years old were enrolled to this study. CRAFFT was self-administered. Interviews took approximately 30 minutes, including the DSM-IV diagnostic interview for alcohol/drug dependence.Results: The mean age of subjects was 16.653 years (minimum: 15 years, maximum: 18 years). A score of 2 or higher in part B was found to be optimal for detecting youths with substance dependence problems (sensitivity: 0.82; specificity: 0.88) and it was sufficiently discriminative.Conclusion: The CRAFFT is a valid and reliable instrument for identifying Turkish-speaking youths at risk for substance use disorders.Keywords: CRAFFT, substance abuse, validity, Turkish, adolescent