Cancer Control Research
1R03CA066558-01
Covey, Lirio S.
NICOTINE DEPENDENCE SCALE
AbstractLevel of nicotine dependence is widely regarded as an important predictor
of smoking cessation outcome, yet a nicotine dependence measure with
proven validity and clinical utility has not been available. Results from
a pilot study strongly indicated the potential value of an initial core
of items (based on psychoactive substance abuse criteria applied to
nicotine) as a means for improving understanding and measuring the
nicotine dependence construct.
The treatment and theoretical benefits of such an instrument prompt us
to advance our pilot work towards a multidimensional measure of nicotine
dependence with demonstrated validity and reliability that will also be
easy to administer by both the self-report and the interview method. The
proposed study will be conducted in two phases. In phase one, item
construction and refinement. our aims are: 1) to write multiple sets of
multiple items to operationally define several hypothetical constructs
comprising the nicotine dependence syndrome and 2) to construct an
interview/self-rating protocol. i.e. the Nicotine Dependence Scale (NDS).
in phase two, a field test of the NDS, our aims are: 1) to use
exploratory factor analysis to identify the underlying constructs amongst
a total set of approximately 80 items. 2) to determine through
confirmatory analysis the invariance of the identified factor structure
across demographic and psychological subgroups, 3) to determine internal
consistency and re-test reliability, 4) to estimate the ability of the
total NDS score and the battery of factor scored variables, singly and
in weighted linear combination, to predict smoking cessation outcome, 5)
to estimate the association of the total NDS score and the underlying
factor scores with such variables as number of cigarettes smoked daily
number of past attempts to stop smoking, carbon monoxide level, and the
Fagerstrom Test score.
Subjects will be smoking cessation program participants from the American
Cancer Society in New Yore City (n=600) and from the Veterans
Administration Hospital in Loma Linda, California (n=200). Approximately
60% of ACS subjects and 5% of VA subjects will be females; about 15-20%
in both sites will be nonwhite.
The high cost of chronic tobacco use (it is the leading cause of death
among US adults) warrants efforts aimed at improving cessation
techniques. Increased understanding of and ability to measure the
nicotine dependence construct is an essential part of that task.
|