From the newsroom of the Join Together, Friday, July 15, 2005 .....

Widely Used Alcohol Screening Instruments Confusing to Deaf Persons

Deaf persons have difficulty understanding questions on traditional alcohol screening instruments, according to a recent Texas study.

Deaf persons recruited from San Antonio and Austin were asked to read the CAGE and the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT), two instruments widely used to screen for alcohol problems.

Deaf individuals reported difficulty understanding not only individual words and phrases in both instruments, but also entire questions -- even after being shown corresponding American Sign Language (ASL) signs for words or phrases within the question.

This difficulty occurred, in part, because of reading-level limitations and because certain phrases or words do not exist in ASL. For example, more than one-third did not understand the first CAGE question, "Have you ever felt you should cut down on your drinking?" Similar results were found for the AUDIT instrument.

The authors suggest that a "new alcohol and other drug screening tool should be created for Deaf populations, taking into account linguistic and cultural considerations."

For details, including data charts, source information and caveats, download the PDF file at www.cesar.umd.edu/cesar/cesarfax/vol14/14-26.pdf.

Reprinted from CESAR Fax, a weekly, one-page overview of timely substance abuse trends or issues, from The Center on Substance Abuse Research (CESAR) at the University of Maryland.

Copyright 2005 - Join Together is a project of the Boston University School of Public Health

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