Validation of a 9-item Perceived Suicide Awareness Scale (PSAS-9) for adolescents.

BACKGROUND: Robust empirical data on suicide awareness are needed, to better plan and evaluate suicide prevention interventions. However, there is a lack of validated measures of suicide awareness. This is especially true for perceived suicide awareness, which focuses on perceived knowledge about suicide, willingness, and confidence to talk about suicide and get help. Using the theoretical framework of Social Cognitive Theory, this study aimed to validate a measure of perceived suicide awareness. METHODS: We re-used data from a suicide prevention trial conducted in Swiss secondary schools (n = 366). Baseline and one-month follow-up data were used to validate the scale. The main measure was an initial 14-item Perceived Suicide Awareness Scale (PSAS). Perceived knowledge of help-seeking resources, suicide-related knowledge, and support networks were used to assess convergent validity. RESULTS: A nine-item version, the PSAS-9, showed satisfactory psychometric properties, including high internal consistency (α = 0.78), acceptable test-retest (r = 0.68), and a one-factor structure explaining 95 % of the variance. The convergent validity was acceptable (0.19 ≤ r ≤ 0.40). The PSAS-9 was not correlated with suicide-related knowledge (r = 0.02). LIMITATIONS: The study missed a similar construct to properly assess convergent validity and had a modest sample size. In addition, it only included secondary school adolescents, so further research in other samples of youths is needed to robustly validate the PSAS-9. CONCLUSIONS: This study was an important step towards validating a perceived suicide awareness scale, which appears as a new dimension of suicidality, distinct from suicide-related knowledge. The PSAS-9 could be used to develop, evaluate, and improve suicide prevention efforts.

Protocol of a monocentric, double-blind, randomized, superiority, controlled trial evaluating the effect of in-prison OROS-methylphenidate vs. placebo treatment in detained people with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (BATIR).

BACKGROUND: Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is characterized by difficulty paying attention, poor impulse control, and hyperactive behavior. It is associated with several adverse health and social outcomes and leads to an increased risk of criminality and recidivism. Worldwide, ADHD is thus highly prevalent in prisons. However, ADHD treatment has been neglected in such environments. Stimulant medications such as osmotic-release oral system methylphenidate (OROS-MPH) are first-line treatments in the general population, but they are under-prescribed in prisons due to concerns about abuse, even though such claims are not empirically supported. This project aims to compare the efficacy of a 3-month in-prison OROS-MPH vs. placebo treatment on the severity of core ADHD symptoms and relevant in- and post-prison outcomes. METHODS: This study is a phase III, double-blinded, randomized, superiority, controlled trial of OROS-MPH vs. placebo. After randomization, the participants will receive 3 months of treatment with OROS-MPH or placebo (1:1 ratio) while incarcerated. Upon release, all participants will be offered the treatment (OROS-MPH) for 1 year but will remain blinded to their initial study group. The study will be conducted at the Division of Prison Health, Geneva, Switzerland, among incarcerated men (n = 150). Measures will include (1) investigator-rated ADHD symptoms, (2) acute events collected by the medical and prison teams, (3) assessment of the risk of recidivism, (4) medication side effects, (5) medication adherence, (6) study retention, (7) health care/prison costs, and (8) 1-year recidivism. Analyses will include bivariable and multivariable modeling (e.g., regression models, mixed-effects models, survival analyses) and an economic evaluation (cost-benefit analysis). DISCUSSION: We expect that early identification and treatment of ADHD in prison will be an important public health opportunity and a cost-effective approach that is likely to reduce the vulnerability of incarcerated individuals and promote pathways out of criminal involvement. The study will also promote standards of care for people with ADHD in prison and provide recommendations for continuity of care after release. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05842330 . Registered on June 5, 2023. Kofam.ch SNCTP000005388. Registered on July 17, 2023.

The contribution of discursive and cognitive factors in referential choices made by elderly people during a narrative task.

The present study focuses on referential choices made by healthy aged adults during narrative discourse, and their relationship with cognitive and socio-cognitive abilities. Previously, some studies have shown that, compared to young adults, older adults produce more pronouns when referring to various entities during discourse, regardless of the accessibility level of the referent for the addressee. This referential behavior has been interpreted in relation to the decrease of cognitive abilities, such as working memory abilities. There is, as of yet, little empirical evidence highlighting which cognitive competences preferentially support referential choices during discourse production. Here, we focus on three categories of referential markers (indefinite, definite markers and pronouns) produced by 78 participants from 60 to 91 years old. We used a storytelling task enabling us to examine the referential choices made at three discourse stages (introduction, maintaining or shift of the referent in focus) and in increasing levels of referential complexity (one vs two characters, and different vs same gender). In addition to specifically assessing how increasing age influences referential choices, we also examine the contribution of various cognitive and socio-cognitive skills that are presumed to play a specific role in referential choices. We found that both age and specific cognitive abilities (planification, inhibition, and verbal episodic memory) had an effect on referential choices, but that these effects depended on when (at which discourse stage) the referential markers were produced. Overall, our study highlights the complex interplay between discursive and cognitive factors in referential choices made by healthy older speakers.

Evaluating the cost of simplicity in score building: An example from alcohol research.

Building a score from a questionnaire to predict a binary gold standard is a common research question in psychology and health sciences. When building this score, researchers may have to choose between statistical performance and simplicity. A practical question is to what extent it is worth sacrificing the former to improve the latter. We investigated this research question using real data, in which the aim was to predict an alcohol use disorder (AUD) diagnosis from 20 self-reported binary questions in young Swiss men (n = 233, mean age = 26). We compared the statistical performance using the area under the ROC curve (AUC) of (a) a "refined score" obtained by logistic regression and several simplified versions of it ("simple scores"): with (b) 3, (c) 2, and (d) 1 digit(s), and (e) a "sum score" that did not allow negative coefficients. We used four estimation methods: (a) maximum likelihood, (b) backward selection, (c) LASSO, and (d) ridge penalty. We also used bootstrap procedures to correct for optimism. Simple scores, especially sum scores, performed almost identically or even slightly better than the refined score (respective ranges of corrected AUCs for refined and sum scores: 0.828-0.848, 0.835-0.850), with the best performance been achieved by LASSO. Our example data demonstrated that simplifying a score to predict a binary outcome does not necessarily imply a major loss in statistical performance, while it may improve its implementation, interpretation, and acceptability. Our study thus provides further empirical evidence of the potential benefits of using sum scores in psychology and health sciences.

The Effect of Positive Therapeutic Communication on Pain (POPAIN) and Anxiety During Arterial Blood Gas Standardized Procedures in the Emergency Department Compared to Traditional Communication: Protocol for a Monocentric Randomized Controlled Trial.

BACKGROUND: In the emergency department (ED), medical procedures, such as arterial blood gas (ABG) testing, can cause pain and high stress levels. However, ABG testing is a routine procedure assessing the severity of the patient's condition. To reduce the pain of ABG, several methods have been investigated without significant difference in pain perception. Communication, a key element of care, has shown a significant effect on pain perception. A positive communication strategy, including positive, kind, or reassuring words, can reduce pain perception, while negative words can raise this perception, causing discomfort, known as the "nocebo effect." Although some studies have compared the impact of verbal attitudes, particularly in anesthesia and mainly with staff already trained in hypnosis, to the best of our knowledge, none have investigated the effect of communication in the emergency setting, where patients may be more suggestible to the words used. OBJECTIVE: In this study, we will investigate the effect of positive therapeutic communication on pain, anxiety, discomfort, and global satisfaction in patients requiring ABG compared to nocebo and neutral communication. METHODS: A single-center, double-blind randomized controlled trial (RCT) with 3 parallel arms will be conducted with 249 patients requiring ABG during their ED visit. Patients will be randomly assigned to 1 of 3 groups before receiving ABG: positive communication group, negative communication (nocebo) group, or neutral communication (neutral) group. The communication and the words used by the physicians during hygiene preparation, artery location, and puncture will be imposed in each group. The study will be proposed to each patient corresponding to the inclusion criteria. The physicians will not be trained in hypnosis or in positive therapeutic communication. The procedure will be recorded with audio recorders to test its quality. Intention-to-treat analysis will be performed. The primary endpoint is the onset of pain. The secondary outcomes are patient comfort, patient anxiety, and global satisfaction of the patient with the communication strategy used. RESULTS: On average, 2000 ABG procedures are performed each year in the EDs of hospitals. In this study, 249 patients are expected to be included. With a projected positive response rate of 80%, we intend to include 25 (10%) patients per month. The inclusion period began in April 2023 and will run until July 2024. We hope to publish the results of the study during the fall of 2024. CONCLUSIONS: To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first RCT assessing the use of positive communication on pain and anxiety in patients undergoing the ABG procedure in the ED. A reduction in pain, discomfort, and anxiety is expected when using positive communication. If the results are positive, this could be useful to the medical community and encourage clinicians to monitor their communication during care. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05434169; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT05434169. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): PRR1-10.2196/42043.

Validation of self-report measures of narcissism against a diagnostic interview.

The Pathological Narcissism Inventory (PNI) and the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI) are often used to screen for pathological narcissism but have rarely been validated against a clinician-administered diagnostic interview. Our study evaluated the convergent validity of the PNI and NPI against a diagnostic interview for narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) in a clinical population. We used data from a psychiatric outpatient center located in Switzerland (n = 123). Correlations between PNI/NPI and NPD ranged between .299 and .498 (common variance 9.0-24.8%). The PNI and NPI should be used carefully to screen for NPD. We highlight a need to increase the compatibility between the conceptual underpinnings of the PNI, NPI and NPD.

Psychometric evaluation of the Patient Assessment of Chronic Illness Care instrument using Item analysis according to the Rasch model.

RATIONALE, AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: The Patient Assessment of Chronic Illness Care (PACIC) instrument assesses patient care in alignment with the chronic care model. The aim of the study was to comprehensively validate the PACIC using the Rasch model. A special focus was placed on the investigation of local dependence (LD), differential item functioning (DIF) and targeting. METHOD: This secondary analysis utilized data of 760 patients with a diagnosis of diabetes who had participated in the Swiss CoDiab-VD cohort study. The psychometric properties of the French PACIC-version were evaluated using the Rasch model. DIF was investigated in relation to age, gender, education, year of recruitment into the CoDiab-VD cohort study, type of diabetes and whether patients got an injectable antidiabetic drug or not. RESULTS: The initial analysis of the PACIC revealed poor fit to the Rasch model (χ2 -p < 0.001) with response dependency being the most prominent problem. After combining the items into two testlets (testlet 1: Items 1-11; testlet 2: Items 12-20), good overall model fit was found (χ2 -p = 0.77) as well as good reliability (Person Separation Index = 0.85) and targeting. DIF with regard to whether patients got an injectable antidiabetic drug or not was found for testlet 2. However, the size of this DIF was regarded as not being substantial. CONCLUSION: The PACIC is a well-targeted, reliable unidimensional instrument to assess patient care in alignment with the chronic care model in patients with diabetes. It is free of substantial DIF. The PACIC-20 sum score can hence be used in clinical practice for individual diagnostic. For evaluation purposes like assessment of change or group evaluations, the usage of the interval-scale level person parameters is recommended as it permits using parametric statistical analyses and provides a more accurate picture about the actual amount of change.

Evidence of joint commitment in great apes' natural joint actions.

Human joint action seems special, as it is grounded in joint commitment-a sense of mutual obligation participants feel towards each other. Comparative research with humans and non-human great apes has typically investigated joint commitment by experimentally interrupting joint actions to study subjects' resumption strategies. However, such experimental interruptions are human-induced, and thus the question remains of how great apes naturally handle interruptions. Here, we focus on naturally occurring interruptions of joint actions, grooming and play, in bonobos and chimpanzees. Similar to humans, both species frequently resumed interrupted joint actions (and the previous behaviours, like grooming the same body part region or playing the same play type) with their previous partners and at the previous location. Yet, the probability of resumption attempts was unaffected by social bonds or rank. Our data suggest that great apes experience something akin to joint commitment, for which we discuss possible evolutionary origins.

Assessing joint commitment as a process in great apes.

Many social animals interact jointly, but only humans experience a specific sense of obligation toward their co-participants, a joint commitment. However, joint commitment is not only a mental state but also a process that reveals itself in the coordination efforts deployed during entry and exit phases of joint action. Here, we investigated the presence and duration of such phases in N = 1,242 natural play and grooming interactions of captive chimpanzees and bonobos. The apes frequently exchanged mutual gaze and communicative signals prior to and after engaging in joint activities with conspecifics, demonstrating entry and exit phases comparable to those of human joint activities. Although rank effects were less clear, phases in bonobos were more moderated by friendship compared to phases in chimpanzees, suggesting bonobos were more likely to reflect patterns analogous to human "face management". This suggests that joint commitment as process was already present in our last common ancestor with Pan.

Performance of self-reported measures of alcohol use and of harmful drinking patterns against ethyl glucuronide hair testing among young Swiss men.

BACKGROUND: There is a need for empirical studies assessing the psychometric properties of self-reported alcohol use as measures of excessive chronic drinking (ECD) compared to those of objective measures, such as ethyl glucuronide (EtG). OBJECTIVES: To test the quality of self-reported measures of alcohol use and of risky single-occasion drinking (RSOD) to detect ECD assessed by EtG. METHODS: A total of 227 samples of hair from young Swiss men were used for the determination of EtG. Self-reported measures of alcohol use (previous twelve-month and previous-week alcohol use) and RSOD were assessed. Using EtG (<30 pg/mg) as the gold standard of ECD assessment, the sensitivity and specificity were computed, and the AUROC were compared for alcohol use measures and RSOD. Logistic regressions were used to test the contribution of RSOD to the understanding of ECD after controlling for alcohol use. RESULTS: A total of 23.3% of participants presented with ECD. Previous twelve-month alcohol use with a cut-off of >15 drinks per week (sensitivity = 75.5%, specificity = 78.7%) and weekly RSOD (sensitivity = 75.5%, specificity = 70.1%) yielded acceptable psychometric properties. No cut-off for previous-week alcohol use gave acceptable results. In the multivariate logistic regression, after controlling for the previous twelve months of alcohol use, RSOD was still significantly associated with EtG (p = .016). CONCLUSION: Self-reported measures of the previous twelve months of alcohol use and RSOD were acceptable measures of ECD for population-based screening. Self-reported RSOD appeared to be an interesting screening measure, in addition to the previous twelve months of alcohol use, to understand ECD among young people.

Bonobos engage in joint commitment.

Joint action is central to human nature, enabling collectives to achieve goals otherwise unreachable by individuals. It is enabled by humans' capacity to understand and engage in joint commitments. Joint commitments are evidenced when partners in interrupted joint actions reengage one another. To date, there is no clear evidence whether nonhuman animals understand joint commitment, suggesting that only humans experience it. Here, we revisit this claim by interrupting bonobos engaged in social activities. Bonobos reliably resumed the activity, and the likelihood of resumption was higher for social compared to solitary activities. Furthermore, communicative efforts deployed to suspend and resume social activities varied depending on partners' social relationships and interactive roles. Our results suggest that bonobos, like humans, engage in joint commitment and have some awareness of the social consequences of breaking it.

Nurse-led patient-centred intervention to increase written advance directives for outpatients in early-stage palliative care: study protocol for a randomised controlled trial with an embedded explanatory qualitative study.

INTRODUCTION: Discussing the evolution of life-threatening diseases and end-of-life issues remains difficult for patients, relatives and professionals. Helping people discuss and formalise their preferences in end-of-life care, as planned in the Go Wish intervention, could reduce health-related anxiety in the advance care planning (ACP) and advance directive (AD) process. The aims of this study are (1) to test the effectiveness of the Go Wish intervention among outpatients in early-stage palliative care and (2) to understand the role of defence mechanisms in end-of-life discussions among nurses, patients and relatives. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: A mixed-methods study will be performed. A cluster randomised controlled trials with three parallel arms will be conducted with 45 patients with chronic progressive diseases impacting life expectancy in each group: (1) Group A, Go Wish intervention for patients and their relatives; (2) Group A, Go Wish intervention for patients alone and (3) Group B, for patients (with a waiting list), who will receive the standardised information on ADs (usual care). Randomisation will be at the nurse level as each patient is referred to one of the 20 participating nurses (convenience sample of 20 nurses). A qualitative study will be conducted to understand the cognitive and emotional processes and experiences of nurses, patients and relatives confronted with end-of-life discussions. The outcome measurements include the completion of ADs (yes/no), anxiety, quality of communication about end-of-life care, empowerment, quality of life and attitudes towards ADs. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: The study protocol has been approved by the Human Research Ethics Committee of the Canton of Geneva, Switzerland (no. 2019-00922). The findings will be disseminated to practice (nurses, patients and relatives), to national and international scientific conferences, and peer-reviewed journals covering nursing science, psychology and medicine. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT04065685.

Referential adjustment during discourse production in Alzheimer's disease.

Several studies have shown that people with Alzheimer's disease (AD) tend to use more pronouns than healthy aged adults when referring to entities during discourse. This referential behavior has been associated with the decrease of cognitive abilities, such as lexical retrieval difficulties or reduced abilities in working memory. However, the influence of certain important discourse factors on the referential choices made by people with AD has yet to be established. This study examines referential choices made at three discourse stages during narrative discourse (the introduction of a referent, the maintaining of the referent in focus, and the shift from one referent in focus to another). These referential choices are examined in increasingly complex referential contexts. In addition, this study investigates the relationships between referential choices and various cognitive abilities. To do so, the narrative discourses of 21 people with AD and 21 healthy adults were elicited using a newly developed storytelling in sequence task. The analyses focused on the production of three major referential expressions (indefinite expressions, definite expressions and pronouns) which are expected to vary according to discourse stage and the referential complexity of the stories. The results show that AD participants produce significantly fewer of the referential expressions expected at the introduction and shift stages than healthy aged adults produce. Nevertheless, the variation in the categories of referential expressions produced by the AD participants between the discourse stages is similar to that produced by the healthy aged adults, suggesting a preserved sensitivity to the factors manipulated in the task (i.e., discourse stages and referential complexity). This study also highlights the fact that different cognitive competences, especially executive abilities, are greatly involved in referential choices. The results add further evidence that referential choices rely on a variety of cognitive skills, depending on the discourse context in which they are made.

Validation of the patient assessment of chronic illness care (PACIC) short form scale in heart transplant recipients: the international cross-sectional bright study.

BACKGROUND: Transplant recipients are chronically ill patients, who require lifelong follow-up to manage co-morbidities and prevent graft loss. This necessitates a system of care that is congruent with the Chronic Care Model. The eleven-item self-report Patient Assessment of Chronic Illness Care (PACIC) scale assesses whether chronic care is congruent with the Chronic Care Model, yet its validity for heart transplant patients has not been tested. METHODS: We tested the validity of the English version of the PACIC, and compared the similarity of the internal structure of the PACIC across English-speaking countries (USA, Canada, Australia and United Kingdom) and across six languages (French, German, Dutch, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese). This was done using data from the cross-sectional international BRIGHT study that included 1378 heart transplant patients from eleven countries across 4 continents. To test the validity of the instrument, confirmatory factor analyses to check the expected unidimensional internal structure, and relations to other variables, were performed. RESULTS: Main analyses confirmed the validity of the English PACIC version for heart transplant patients. Exploratory analyses across English-speaking countries and languages also confirmed the single factorial dimension, except in Italian and Spanish. CONCLUSION: This scale could help healthcare providers monitor level of chronic illness management and improve transplantation care. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Clinicaltrials.gov ID: NCT01608477, first patient enrolled in March 2012, registered retrospectively: May 30, 2012.

Screening for alcohol use disorder among individuals with comorbid psychiatric disorders: Diagnostic accuracy in a sample of young Swiss men.

Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is frequently comorbid with other psychiatric disorders. However, few studies investigated the psychometric properties of AUD screening tools in presence of co-occurring disorders. This study examined the diagnostic accuracy of a short AUD screening tool among young adults, in the presence of high vs. low or moderate symptomatology of other common psychiatric disorders. Data were collected among young Swiss men (n = 233) between 2016 and 2018. Measures included a diagnostic interview for AUD and screening tools for AUD and other psychiatric disorders (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, antisocial personality disorder, bipolar disorder, borderline personality disorder, major depressive disorder, and social anxiety disorder). We computed receiver operating characteristic curves to test whether the AUD screening tool was an accurate indicator of AUD for groups with high vs. low or moderate symptomatology of each psychiatric disorder. The results showed that the optimal cut-off score was ≥3 (the original cut-off of the scale) for participants with a low or moderate symptomatology and ≥4 for participants with a high symptomatology. Our findings highlighted the urgent need for an integrated approach to screening. Psychiatric comorbidities should be included in the screen for AUD to obtain accurate results.

Identifying an accurate self-reported screening tool for alcohol use disorder: evidence from a Swiss, male population-based assessment.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Short screenings for alcohol use disorder (AUD) are crucial for public health purposes, but current self-reported measures have several pitfalls and may be unreliable. The main aim of our study was to provide empirical evidence on the psychometric performance of self-reports currently used. Our research questions were: compared with a gold standard clinical interview, how accurate are (1) self-reported AUD, (2) self-reported alcohol use over time and (3) biomarkers of alcohol use among Swiss men? Finally, we aimed to identify an alternative screening tool. DESIGN: A single-center study with a cross-sectional design and a stratified sample selection. SETTING: Lausanne University Hospital (Switzerland) from October 2017 to June 2018. PARTICIPANTS: We selected participants from the French-speaking participants of the ongoing Cohort Study on Substance Use and Risk Factors (n = 233). The sample included young men aged on average 27.0 years. MEASUREMENTS: We used the Diagnostic Interview for Genetic Studies as the gold standard for DSM-5 AUD. The self-reported measures included 11 criteria for AUD, nine alcohol-related consequences, and previous 12 months' alcohol use. We also assessed biomarkers of chronic excessive drinking (ethyl glucuronide and phosphatidylethanol). FINDINGS: None of the self-reported measures/biomarkers taken alone displayed both sensitivity and specificity close to 100% with respect to the gold standard (e.g. self-reported AUD: sensitivity = 92.3%, specificity = 45.8%). The best model combined eight self-reported criteria of AUD and four alcohol-related consequences. Using a cut-off of three, this screening tool yielded acceptable sensitivity (83.3%) and specificity (78.7%). CONCLUSIONS: Neither self-reported alcohol use disorder nor heavy alcohol use appear to be adequate to screen for alcohol use disorder among young men from the Swiss population. The best screening alternative for alcohol use disorder among young Swiss men appears to be a combination of eight symptoms of alcohol use disorder and four alcohol-related consequences.

Health care costs of case management for frequent users of the emergency department: Hospital and insurance perspectives.

BACKGROUND: In most emergency departments (EDs), few patients account for a relatively high number of ED visits. To improve the management of these patients, the university hospital of Lausanne, Switzerland, implemented an interdisciplinary case management (CM) intervention. This study examined whether the CM intervention-compared with standard care (SC) in the ED-reduced costs generated by frequent ED users, not only from the hospital perspective, but also from the third-party payer perspective, that is, from a broader perspective that takes into account the costs of health care services used outside the hospital offering the intervention. METHODS: In this randomized controlled trial, 250 frequent ED users (>5 visits during the previous 12 months) were allocated to either the CM or the SC group and followed up for 12 months. Cost data were obtained from the hospital's analytical accounting system for the entire sample and from health insurance companies for a subgroup (n = 140). Descriptive statistics and multivariate regressions were used to make comparisons between groups and assess the contribution of patient characteristics to the main cost components. RESULTS: At the end of the 12-month follow-up, 115 patients were in the CM group and 115 in the SC group (20 had died). Despite differences in economic costs between patients in the CM intervention and the SC groups, our results do not show any statistically significant reduction in costs associated with the intervention, either for the hospital that housed the intervention or for the third-party payer. Frequent ED users were big users of health services provided by both the hospital and community-based services, with 40% of costs generated outside the hospital that housed the intervention. Higher age, Swiss citizenship, and having social difficulty increased costs significantly. CONCLUSIONS: As the role of the CM team is to guide patients through the entire care process, the intervention location is not limited to the hospital but often extends into the community.

Comparison of self-reported measures of alcohol-related dependence among young Swiss men: a study protocol for a cross-sectional controlled sample.

INTRODUCTION: Short screenings of alcohol-related dependence are needed for population-based assessments. A clinical interview constitutes a reliable diagnosis often seen as gold standard, but it is costly and time consuming and as such, not suitable for population-based assessments. Therefore, self-reported questionnaires are needed (eg, alcohol use disorder (AUD) as in the Diagnostic and Statistic Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) 5), but their reliability is questionable. Recent studies called for more evidence-based measurements for population-based screening (eg, heavy alcohol use over time (HAU)). This study aims to test the reliability of different self-reported measures of alcohol use. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: Based on stratified random selection, 280 participants will be recruited from the French-speaking subgroup of the Swiss National Science Foundation-supported Cohort Study on Substance Use and Risk Factors (C-SURF). This cohort is a population-based sample of young Swiss men in their mid-20s (n=2668). The sample size calculation is based on a proportion non-inferiority test (alpha=5%, power=80%, margin of equivalence=10%, difference in sensitivity between self-reported AUD and HAU=5%, correlation between AUD and HAU=0.35, and drop-outs=15%). Assessment will include a clinical interview as the gold standard of alcohol-related dependence, self-reported alcohol measures (HAU, AUD and drinking patterns), biomarkers as gold standards of chronic excessive drinking, and health outcomes. To assess the validity of the self-reported alcohol measures, sensitivity analyses will be run. The associations between alcohol-related measures and health outcomes will be tested. A non-response analysis will be run using the previous waves of the C-SURF study using logistic regressions. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: The study protocol has been approved by the Human Research Ethics Committee of the Canton of Vaud, Switzerland (no. 2017-00776). The results will be submitted for publication in peer-reviewed journals and presented at national and international conferences.