New comprehensive screening instrument for DWI offenders

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): All 50 states mandate screening for drunk drivers, to clarify an offender's need for treatment for alcohol and drug use disorders, and to determine recidivism risk. Yet, no currently available screening instruments have been validated that meet minimal criteria to accurately triage offenders. Our Center has developed such an instrument and we propose to further validate, update, and shorten it, using previously collected in-house data. The final computerized self-report instrument will be user-friendly and highly researched, and will incorporate the entire body of literature on methods known to work in DWI screening. In Phase I, we will develop one of four test domains, Alcohol Use Disorders, in both computerized and paper formats. Tasks will include a comprehensive psychometric evaluation of existing item data incorporating updated diagnostic criteria, a simplification of scoring through measurement modeling, extensive concurrent and convergent validation, a redesign of the survey instrument and reports, and software programming. In Phase II, remaining domains will be integrated, predictive validity will be established using existing and prospective data, norms will be established, and it will be piloted in a DWI judicial setting to test usability, and satisfaction. This instrument will have the capability of impacting approximately 1.5 million arrests being processed in over 10,000 courts yearly.