Drug and Alcohol Dependence
Volume 180, 2017, Pages 121-128

Evaluation of the AC-OK mental health and substance abuse screening measure in an international sample of Latino immigrants (Article)

Chavez L.M.* , Shrout P.E. , Wang Y. , Collazos F. , Carmona R. , Alegría M.
  • a Behavioral Sciences Research Institute, University of Puerto Rico Medical Sciences Campus, Río Piedras, PR 00935, United States
  • b Department of Psychology, New York University 6 Washington Place, Room 455, New York, NY 10003, United States
  • c Disparities Research Unit, Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, 50 Staniford St. Suite 830 BostonMA 02114, United States
  • d Hospital Universitari Vall d'Hebron, Paseo de la Vall d'Hebron, 119-129, Barcelona, 08035, Spain
  • e Fundación Jiménez Díaz, Avda. Reyes Católicos, 2, Madrid, 28040, Spain
  • f Disparities Research Unit, Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, 50 Staniford St. Suite 830 BostonMA 02114, United States

Abstract

Background Early detection and intervention in primary care is integral to behavioral health. Valid, practical screening assessments are scarce, particularly for non-English speaking populations. We address this need by evaluating the psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the AC-OK Screen for Co-occurring Disorders for first and second generation immigrant Latinos in Massachusetts, USA, and Madrid and Barcelona, Spain. Methods 567 Latino participants were recruited in waiting areas of clinics or by referral from Primary Care, Mental Health, Substance Use, and HIV Treatment Clinics, as well as Community Agencies. We use confirmatory factor analyses to evaluate the factor structure, correlation analysis to examine concurrent and discriminant validity, and receiver operating curves (ROC) to determine the ability of the AC-OK to approximate a composite of established instruments designed to measure depression, generalized anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms, alcohol, and drugs (including benzodiazepines) as external criteria. Results The original two factor structure was replicated in samples of Latino respondents in the US and Spain. Correlations with other measures followed the expected pattern. In both the US and Spain, ROC analyses suggested that the AC-OK scale was an adequate approximation to other specific measures of mental health (ROC = 0.90) and substance abuse problems (ROC = 0.83). Conclusions The Spanish version of the AC-OK Screen has good to excellent psychometric properties in both its subscales. These findings are robust across sites, gender, and type of clinic. We recommend its use for clinical research and for routine screening at treatment centers. © 2017 Elsevier B.V.

Author Keywords

Substance abuse Immigrant health Mental health psychometric properties Latinos

Index Keywords

anxiety depression validity immigrant receiver operating characteristic Massachusetts mental health Factor Analysis, Statistical human factor analysis priority journal Substance-Related Disorders substance abuse drug dependence Hispanic Americans Spanish (language) AC OK Screen mental disease United States Humans migrant psychology Hispanic male Emigrants and Immigrants Spain female confirmatory factor analysis diagnostic test accuracy study Psychometrics sensitivity and specificity psychometry Article major clinical study adult posttraumatic stress disorder Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic mental disease assessment Substance Abuse Detection primary health care
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85033410183&doi=10.1016%2fj.drugalcdep.2017.07.042&partnerID=40&md5=2582a4fe65fcd11ac80ffb39996b3f19
DOI: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2017.07.042
ISSN: 03768716
Cited by: 2
Original Language: English