Is it possible to quantify alcohol-related problems? Among many, the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) is one of the most widely used tools to quantify and categorise risk levels for alcohol-related problems. This 10-item instrument came out of a multi-centre study executed by the World Health Organization (WHO). I…

In my last two posts, I discussed the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT), the standard drink size concept, and the challenges faced when administering the AUDIT’s quantify-frequency questions.  In this post, I will discuss how I met the above challenges. Anyone interested can adapt the steps I followed. I…

While I was validating the AUDIT – a tool widely used to quantify alcohol consumption and related problems – to the Sri Lankan context, although researchers and practitioners all over the world have been using it for decades, I faced many difficulties in translating its first three questions: the quantity-frequency…

The problem Estimating the amount of ethanol consumed accurately is difficult but essential to identify risk groups for alcohol-related problems.  The varying ethanol content in different alcohol brands becomes one of the main challenges. The ethanol content in different types of alcoholic beverages varies as follows; 5% in beer; 10%…