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 | 96.5 | .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)
IDUs Who Remained Seronegative by Follow-up Month
RAB | Seroconverted | 12M | 18M | 24M | 30M | 36M | 42M | 48M |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Risk Score | n=17 | n=137 | n=140 | n=139 | n=137 | n=135 | n=137 | 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* | 4.59** |
* p<.05; **p<.005
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