Abstract
OBJECTIVE: This paper reports on the development of a new online measure of beverage-specific past week alcohol consumption (the TOT-AL), its test-retest reliability, and comparability with the face-to-face approach of ascertaining alcohol intake.
METHODS: University students participating in the reliability study completed the TOT-AL twice on the same day with at least 3 h apart. Students in the comparability study attended a face-to-face interview and completed the TOT-AL on the same day, in a randomised order, at least 3 h apart.
RESULTS: There was a strong correlation between the repeated measurements of the TOT-AL (r=0.99; 95% CI: 0.98, 0.99) and between the units calculated by the TOT-AL and the face-to face interview (r=0.97; 95% CI: 0.95, 0.99). A high level of agreement between measurements was also observed in a Bland-Altman analysis.
CONCLUSIONS: The TOT-AL is a reliable, time efficient means of ascertaining alcohol intake, equivalent to that obtained face-to-face. These findings support the use of this approach to online alcohol assessment in populations with access to the Internet.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 337-342 |
| Number of pages | 6 |
| Journal | Addictive Behaviors |
| Volume | 34 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Apr 2009 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Alcohol drinking pattern
- Internet
- Test reliability
- Measurement