A brief measure for the assessment of coping self-efficacy among alcohol and other drug users.

AIMS: To develop a reliable and valid brief measure of coping self-efficacy for substance users to serve the needs of clinicians and researchers who desire a global measure of a client's confidence across high-risk situations. The eight-item global measure of self-efficacy was derived from the Drug-Taking Confidence Questionnaire (DTCQ), a 50-item self-report measure of situation-specific coping self-efficacy applicable to alcohol and other drug users. DESIGN: The questionnaire was administered by trained staff to clients at intake to treatment. Items were selected using stepwise regression. Reliability and construct validity were assessed using alpha and correlation coefficients. SETTING: An addiction treatment facility in Toronto, Ontario. PARTICIPANTS: Seven hundred and thirteen English-speaking adults presenting for treatment with an alcohol or other drug problem. The sample was comprised of alcohol (344), cocaine (253), heroin (53), cannabis (43), other drug (20) users. MEASUREMENTS: The DTCQ: perceived difficulty quitting, motivation to quit and confidence in quitting; depression score (SCL-90-R); and motivation scores (SOCRATES-revised). FINDINGS: An eight-item version (DTCQ-8) accounted for 95% of the variance in the total DTCQ-50 scores and correlated 0.97 with the total DTCQ-50 score. Reliability and validity for the DTCQ-8 as a global indicator of coping self-efficacy was confirmed. CONCLUSIONS: Clinically, the DTCQ-8 is useful for the assessment and monitoring of confidence levels during treatment. The DTCQ-8 is a promising research tool for inclusion in outcome evaluation batteries that require a brief, reliable and valid measure of coping self-efficacy.

Community effects of the opening of the Niagara casino.

AIMS: The impacts on the community of the opening of a casino in Niagara Falls are studied. DESIGN: The study uses a pre/post design for the community data, with pre/post data from Ontario as a whole as a comparison. SETTING: The study site is the city of Niagara Falls, Ontario, where a casino opened in early December, 1996. PARTICIPANTS: Using random-digit dialing, telephone interviews were conducted with adult residents of Niagara Falls in 1996 and 1997, and with adult residents of Ontario in 1995 and 1997. MEASUREMENTS: Aside from demographic variables, measures included general attitudes to gambling, expectations about (1996) and experiences with (1997) the casino's opening, extent of participation in 11 types of gambling and 18 items on problems with gambling: five key items from a standard gambling problems score (SOGS), five life-area problems items, and items on pressures from others concerning the respondent's gambling and on gambling problems among family and friends. FINDINGS: Attitudes to gambling remained stable in Niagara Falls, while there was some evidence of decline in approval in Ontario as a whole. While strong majorities of 1996 respondents had expected many positive and negative effects on The Community of the Casino's opening, Significantly fewer respondents in 1997 reported actually experiencing most of these effects. While a small increase in employment was found, it fell far below projections, a result probably reflecting displacement effects. The rate and level of casino gambling increased in Ontario, but increased even more in Niagara Falls, with little displacement of other gambling. Reported gambling problems increased significantly in Niagara Falls for two of 10 gambling problem items and for the short SOGS score, while rates were generally stable or declining in the province. Pressure from others about gambling rose significantly in Niagara Falls (in contrast to the province), and reported rates of family members or friends with gambling problems also rose substantially. There was an increasing trend in Niagara Falls for all 18 problem indicators. CONCLUSIONS: The casino's opening brought more gambling by local residents, and an increase in reported gambling problems; yet support for the casino, already strong, if anything grew. At least in the short term, problems from the increased availability of gambling manifested themselves not in the public arena but rather in the arena of private life.

Development and validation of the drug-taking confidence questionnaire: a measure of coping self-efficacy.

The Drug-Taking Confidence Questionnaire (DTCQ; Annis & Martin, 1985) is a 50-item self-report questionnaire developed to assess situation-specific coping self-efficacy for use of a particular substance of abuse (e.g., cocaine, heroin, alcohol, cannabis, etc.). Results from exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses of the DTCQ on 713 clients seeking treatment at an addiction treatment facility provided strong evidence for the situation-specificity of efficacy beliefs. An 8-factor first-order model, based on the eight high-risk categories for relapse identified by G.A. Marlatt (Marlatt & Gordon, 1980) and a 3-factor second-order model (i.e., negative situations, positive situations, and temptation situations) provided the best fit to the data. All eight subscales of the DTCQ were shown to have good reliability (alphas .79 to .95). Extensive convergent and discriminant validity analyses for the DTCQ and its subscales in relation to ADS, DAST, OES, DRIE, SCQ, SCL-90R, BDI, HS, and SOCRATES substantiate that the DTCQ is a promising tool for further research and clinical application.

Measurement of antecedents to drug and alcohol use: psychometric properties of the Inventory of Drug-Taking Situations (IDTS).

The development, factor structure, and validity of the Inventory of Drug-Taking Situations (IDTS) is described. This 50-item self-report questionnaire, which is an extension of the Inventory of Drinking Situations (Annis, 1982. Inventory of drinking situations; Annis, Graham & Davis, 1987, Inventory of drinking situations (IDS): User's guide), is designed to assess the situational antecedents to use of a wide range of drugs of abuse. The IDTS consists of 8 subscales that measure a client's substance use in the 8 situations identified in the work of Marlatt (1978, Alcoholism: New directions in behavioral research and treatment): Unpleasant Emotions, Physical Discomfort, Pleasant Emotions, Testing Personal Control, Urges and Temptations to Use, Conflict with Others, Social Pressure to Use, and Pleasant Times with Others. Reliability, factor structure and validity of the IDTS were assessed on 699 clients admitted to the Addiction Research Foundation's treatment facility in Toronto. The IDTS was shown to have reliable subscales. The IDTS total score correlated with self-ratings of the severity of the clients' substance use problem, and with retrospective reports of frequency of use (drugs) and quantity of use (alcohol), years of usage, and severity of dependence. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to test the fit of the data to Marlatt's model of substance use situations, as well as to several alternative models. The goodness-of-fit indicators suggested that the best fit for the data was an 8-factor model corresponding to the 8 subscales based on the Marlatt categories. Evidence was presented that the 8 subscales can be further grouped into 3 second-order factors: (1) negative situations, (2) positive situations, and (3) temptation situations. The negative situation subscales of Unpleasant Emotions, Conflict with Others and Physical Discomfort were found to be correlated with the SCL-90R Depression scale. Interpersonal Sensitivity scale and Somatization scale respectively. The positive social situation subscales of Pleasant Times with Others and Social Pressure to Use were found to be negatively correlated with percentage of time using alone, and positively correlated with pressure from friends and family to use. On the States of Change Readiness and Treatment Eagerness Scales (SOCRATES), clients at the precontemplation stage of change had relatively flat, undifferentiated IDTS profiles (i.e. little scatter of subscale scores), whereas clients in the determination stage had the most differentiation in their IDTS subscale scores. Excellent comparability was found for alcohol clients between the IDS and the IDTS. Evidence was also presented for adequate comparability between the computer and paper and pencil administrative formats of the IDTS.

Vehicle-moose accidents in Newfoundland.

During 1987 and 1988, in Newfoundland, there were 661 motor-vehicle accidents involving a moose; 133 people were injured and three died. This constitutes a major problem for the provincial health-care system. In 95 per cent of the patients who were involved in fifty-five primary collisions (the vehicle hit only the moose), the injury-severity score was less than 9 (mean and standard deviation, 3.2 +/- 4.6). There were thirty-six secondary collisions: in eighteen, the vehicle hit other objects after avoiding the moose (group A), and in the other eighteen, the vehicle hit the moose and then hit other objects (group B). In group A, the mean injury-severity score was 4.2 +/- 2.9 and in group B, it was 19.6 +/- 27.1. The three patients who died were in group B. There were more injuries to the thorax, thoracolumbar spine, and abdomen in group B than in the single-collision groups (primary-collision group and group A).

Molecular characterization of an aberrant allele for the Gy3 glycinin gene: a chromosomal rearrangement.

The soybean variety Forrest contains an aberrant allele for the Gy3 glycinin gene. The aberrant allele is designated gy3 because mRNA for the G3 glycinin subunit is reduced to below detectable amounts in the seed. Molecular and genetic characterization of gy3 show it to be associated with a chromosomal rearrangement that causes the 5' halves and 3' halves of the gene to become separated from one another in the genome. An inversion is the simplest structural model that accounts for the genetic and molecular features of the chromosomal rearrangement involving gy3, although more complex models that involve reciprocal translocations are also consistent with the data.