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The Development and Psychometric Testing of a Substance Use Wellness Tool

Publication: Canadian Journal of Community Mental Health
1 February 2019

Abstract

This paper describes the development and psychometric testing of the Substance Use Wellness Tool, created to help raise awareness about alcohol and other substance misuse among university undergraduates. The tool is a self- and peer-reflection guide that students can use to monitor and alter their patterns of substance use. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis showed that the tool was unidimensional and that all 13 assessed domains were important. Cronbach’s alpha indicated the tool was highly reliable. Construct (convergent) validity for alcohol use with the 10-item AUDIT was also good, with strong correlations overall and within subgroups defined by gender, year of study, and university site.

Résumé

Le présent article décrit l’élaboration et l’évaluation psychométrique de l’Outil de bien-être lié à l’utilisation de substances créé pour aider à sensibiliser les étudiants du premier cycle universitaire à la consommation abusive d’alcool et d’autres substances. L’outil est un guide d’autoréflexion et de réflexion par les pairs que les élèves peuvent utiliser pour surveiller et modifier leurs habitudes de consommation d’alcool et d’autres drogues. L’analyse factorielle à caractère exploratoire et confirmatoire a permis de démontrer l’aspect unidimensionnel de l’outil et l’importance particulière de chacun des 13 domaines évalués. Le coefficient alpha de Cronbach a révélé que l’outil en était un très fiable. La validité conceptuelle (convergente) de la consommation d’alcool avec l’audit en 10 points s’est également avérée satisfaisante avec des niveaux de corrélation relativement élevés dans l’ensemble et au sein des sous-groupes définis selon le genre, l’année d’étude et le site universitaire.

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Information & Authors

Information

Published In

cover image Canadian Journal of Community Mental Health
Canadian Journal of Community Mental Health
Volume 37Number 3November 2018
Pages: 83 - 95

History

Version of record online: 1 February 2019

Key Words

  1. substance misuse
  2. prevention
  3. awareness

Mots clés

  1. usage abusif de substances
  2. prévention
  3. sensibilisation

Authors

Affiliations

Shu-Ping Chen
Heather Stuart
Terry Krupa
Keith Dobson
Sherry Stewart

Notes

The Caring Campus Toolkit is an integral part of the Caring Campus Project. The Toolkit can be accessed at https://doi.org/10.7870/cjcmh-2018-018

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