Citation

Nochajski TH, Miller BA, Augustino DK, Kramer RJ. Proc. Int. Counc. Alcohol Drugs Traffic Safety Conf. 1995; 1995: 449-454.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1995, The author(s) and the Council, Publisher International Council on Alcohol, Drugs and Traffic Safety)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This study examined the effectiveness of non-obvious indicators for detecting individuals that may have potential problems with alcohol or drugs. The Research Institute on Addictions in conjunction with the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles and the Governor's Traffic Safety Committee has developed a screening instrument (RIASI) for use with drinking driver programs in New York State. The samples consisted of DDP participants from Onondaga county, where all DDP participants are given clinical assessments prior to participation. One sample consisted of 246 individuals that were administered MAST, while the second sample consisted of 125 individuals that were administered RIASI. Referral rates for clinical re-evaluation were basically the same for MAST (56 percent) and RIASI (54 percent). However, the percent of false positives, those identified as potentially having alcohol or drug problems but not needing treatment, was significantly lower for RIASI (25 percent) than for MAST (41 percent). For the false negatives, individuals identified as needing treatment but missed by the screening procedure, RIASI (6 percent) was again significantly lower than MAST (38 percent). These results indicate that use of non-obvious indicators helped increase the accuracy of the screening procedure using RIASI relative to the procedure using MAST.