Risk Assessment Battery (RAB)

Psychometrics

Studies conducted by the authors and others suggest that when properly administered, the RAB responses are equivalent to those collected via personal interview. Test-retest reliability has also been found to be relatively high. Importantly, the RAB has demonstrated discriminant validity in differentiating between respondents engaging in different drug use patterns and predictive validity in identifying seroconverters on the basis of higher risk scores.

Internal consistency

• Drug risk score: Cronbach alpha = .82
• Sex risk score: Cronbach alpha = .42

Factor/cluster analysis

• Factor structure was examined in developing drug and sex risk scales

Reliability

Test-retest

Population	Drug Risk	Sex Risk
Methadone	.80	.69
Cocaine	.73	.88

 

Inter-method Comparison: NIDA AIDS Follow-up Assessment [AFA] and RAB

Item	% Reporting on RAB	% Reporting on AFA	Exact Agreement	Phi	Kappa
Drug Risk
Injected	62.7	63.5	96.6	.93	.93
Shared Syringes	18.9	16.9	94.5	.81	.81
Shared w/ Multiple IDUs	4.7	4.5	96.6	.61	.61
Shared Cotton	30.6	25.1	88.9	.76	.75
Shared Cooker	34.1	33.6	92.7	.84	.84
Shared Rinse Water	28.1	24.4	88.5	.70	.70
Sex Risk
Sex w/ Multiple Partners	24.5	24.3	96.6	.91	.91
Always Use Condoms	28.9	20.4	85.8	.64	.62

 

 

Construct Validity

• Significantly higher drug risk scores for methadone program patients as compared to cocaine users in treatment
• Significantly higher sex risk scores for cocaine users as compared to IDUs

Predictive Validity

• Compared risk scores of IDUs who seroconverted at any time point with IDUs who remained seronegative; by follow-up month (M)

RAB	Seroconverted	IDUs Who Remained Seronegative by Follow-up Month
Risk Score	n=17	12M n=137	18M n=140	24M n=139	30M n=137	36M n=135	42M n=137	48M n=142
Drug Risk	5.75	3.31*	2.66*	2.27*	1.99*	2.27*	2.23*	1.84*
Sex Risk	5.18	4.18	4.05	3.67	3.60	3.31*	3.34*	3.13*
RAB Total	10.94	7.59*	6.74*	5.96*	5.64*	5.61*	5.59*	4.95**

* p<.05; **p<.005

 

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