Reliability of drug users' self-report of economic variables

This study examined the reliability of drug users' self-reported information regarding current work and income. Using a test-retest interval of 48 hours, the Risk Behavior Assessment (RBA; National Institute on Drug Abuse, 1991) was administered twice to 218 drug users currently not in substance abuse treatment recruited from 11 sites participating in the National Institute on Drug Abuse Cooperative Agreement on HIV/AIDS Community-Based Outreach/Intervention Research. The RBA is a structured interview questionnaire designed to collect drug-taking, sexual behavior, and demographic information. We examined test-retest reliability and found that drug users reliably report current work status and income. This will become an increasingly important issue with the emphasis on health services research.