Reliability of self-reported HIV risk behaviors of drug users.

Needle, Richard, Fisher, Dennis G., Weatherby, Norman, Chitwood, Dale, Brown, Barry, Cesari, Helen, Booth, Robert, Williams, Mark L., Watters, John, Andersen, Marcia, Braunstein, Mildred·1995·Psychology of Addictive Behaviors
DOI 10.1037//0893-164x.9.4.242

Abstract

In AIDS research, relatively little attention has been paid to reliability of self-report of drug users. The authors examined the test-retest reliability of the Risk Behavior Assessment (NIDA, 1991) questionnaire. This structured-interview questionnaire was administered twice to 196 drug users in 5 cities over a 48-hr period. Findings indicated that respondents consistently self-report drug use, injection practices, and sexual behaviors; discrepancies do not appear to reflect systematic decreases or increases in self-report; unreliability is associated with poorly worded questions and respondent characteristics; and discrepant reports warrant attention in analysis and interpretation of data. Measurement error has implications for estimating risks, understanding relationships between behavior and HIV transmission, and interpreting change after interventions. Items with low reliability have been revised, and further reliability studies are examining whether revisions have led to improved reliability.

Cited by (14)

  1. Methodological challenges in research on sexual risk behavior: II. Accuracy of self-reports
    Schroder, Kerstin E. E., Carey, Michael P., Vanable, Peter A. · 2003 · Annals of Behavioral Medicine
  2. Reliability of Drug Users' Self-Reported HIV Risk Behaviors and Validity of Self-Reported Recent Drug Use
    Dowling-Guyer, Seana, Johnson, Mark E., Fisher, Dennis G., Needle, Richard, Watters, John, Andersen, Marcia, Williams, Mark, Kotranski, Lynne, Booth, Robert, Rhodes, Fen et al. · 1994 · Assessment
  3. Prescription opioid abuse and diversion in an urban community: the results of an ultrarapid assessment
    Inciardi, James A., Surratt, Hilary L., Cicero, Theodore J., Beard, Ronald A. · 2009 · Pain Medicine
  4. The contribution of mindfulness practice to a multicomponent behavioral sleep intervention following substance abuse treatment in adolescents: a treatment-development study
    Britton, Willoughby B., Bootzin, Richard R., Cousins, Jennifer C., Hasler, Brant P., Peck, Tucker, Shapiro, Shauna L. · 2010 · Substance Abuse
  5. Psychological distress in childhood trauma survivors who abuse drugs
    Medrano, Martha A., Hatch, John P., Zule, William A., Desmond, David P. · 2002 · The American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse

See all 493

How to cite

Cite CoChat for the checks on this page, and the paper for its own findings.

This page
CoChat. (2026). Citation check: Reliability of self-reported HIV risk behaviors of drug users. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.1037//0893-164x.9.4.242
The paper
Needle, R., Fisher, D. G., Weatherby, N., Chitwood, D., Brown, B., Cesari, H., Booth, R., Williams, M. L., Watters, J., Andersen, M., & Braunstein, M. (1995). Reliability of self-reported HIV risk behaviors of drug users. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors. https://doi.org/10.1037//0893-164x.9.4.242

Data sources

Bibliographic data: Semantic Scholar, OpenAlex, Crossref.

Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).

Semantic Scholar’s data is described in: Kinney, R., et al. (2023). The Semantic Scholar Open Data Platform. arXiv:2301.10140.