Citation

Murad HAS, AlHarthi NA, Bakarman MA, Gazzaz ZJ. J. Psychoactive Drugs 2021; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2021, Haight-Ashbury Publications in association with the Haight-Ashbury Free Medical Clinic)

DOI

10.1080/02791072.2021.2013580

PMID

34955091

Abstract

The Drug Abuse Screening Test-10 (DAST-10) is a valid and reliable screening tool for drug use-related problems, however there is no Arabic version. To our knowledge, this is the first study to develop and validate an Arabic DAST-10 version. Saudi young adults participated in the study as two groups; drug users (n=360) recruited from Alamal Complex for Mental Health, Jeddah, and drug non-users (n=100). Three measures were used: (1) Demographic and drug use description questionnaire, (2) Arabic DAST-10 version, and (3) Urine analysis for drug use. The developed Arabic DAST-10 version demonstrated adequate internal consistency. High correlations were shown between its scores and the two standard measures (urine analysis and self-reporting question) indicating good criterion validity. Sensitivity and specificity values were between 91.5 - 99.7% and 57 - 92.5% with different DAST-10 cutoff values. An optimal performance at a cutoff score of 3 or more was most likely to significantly identify drug users. Discriminant analysis showed that more than 90% of cases were correctly classified. Distribution of participants in categories of DAST-10 scores according to degree of problems was reasonable. It is concluded that the developed Arabic DAST-10 version is a reliable and valid screening tool for drug use-related problems in Arabic speakers.

Language: en

Keywords

Arabic; DAST-10; Drug Users; Reliability; Saudi; Validity