[Psychometric properties of the Consumer Satisfaction Questionnaire (CSQ-8) and the Helping Alliance Questionnaire (HAQ)]. / Qualités psychométriques du Consumer satisfaction questionnaire (CSQ-8) et du Helping alliance questionnaire (HAQ).

BACKGROUND: This study was based on data from a quality of care assessment survey conducted in 2011 in outpatient polyclinics of the Vaud Canton in Switzerland, comprising questionnaires completed by 568 children over the age often and 672 parents of children of all ages. The objective of this study was to evaluate the psychometric qualities of the eight-item French versions for children of the Helping Alliance Questionnaire (HAQ) and the Consumer Satisfaction Questionnaire (CSQ-8) to allow formal validation and clinical application of these tools in the context of French-speaking child psychiatry. METHODOLOGY: Responses from children over the age often to the HAQ and CSQ-8 questionnaires were submitted to confirmatory factorial analysis (CFA) for ordinal data to verify their good fit with the original long versions. Construct validity (correspondence between scores on the scales and other external criteria considered to evaluate similar concepts) of the child questionnaires was tested by Spearman's correlation with the parents' responses and their feeling of being reassured or in agreement with respect to the first visit, and with the perception of the help provided by individual and family interviews. RESULTS: CFA showed an acceptable fit with the one-dimensional model of the original scales, both for the HAQ and the CSQ-8. Significant positive correlations of the scales with the parents' responses and with other convergent external criteria confirmed the good construct validity. CONCLUSIONS: These psychometric analyses provide a basis for the validation and clinical application of the abridged French versions of the HAQ and CSQ-8 in quality of care assessment in child psychiatry.

Misuse of alcohol among methadone patients.

Between 5 and 49% of patients undergoing methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) consume alcohol. They show less willingness to comply with treatment and are less committed, their treatment times are longer, and their observance is weaker. Alcohol misuse is the main cause of their increased mortality and morbidity rates. We conducted a multivariate, prospective, open-label study in two groups of methadone patients: the first suffered from alcohol use disorder according to the criteria of the alcohol use disorder test (AUDIT), while the second was alcohol-abstinent. In the process, we completed evaluations on the Toronto alexithymia scale, together with a self-esteem inventory and a temperament and character inventory (TCI-R). Our study included 152 patients, 27.6% of whom were high-risk consumers. Comparison of the alcohol high-risk consumers group and the low-risk consumers showed that the former had higher rates of alexithymia, weaker self-esteem, and lower scores of self-directedness.