Development and evaluation of the heroin abstainers’ cue-sensitization questionnaire

Summary In order to develop the heroin abstainers’ cue-sensitization questionnaire (HACSQ), and evaluate its reliability and validity, during March and April in 2006, the cross-sectional sample survey and cluster sampling were adopted among 939 volunteer participants who were heroin abstainers from 5 compulsive detoxification centers in China. The data were collected by the self-report questionnaires. The reliability analysis included Cronbach’s α coefficient, split reliability and test-retest reliability, while construction validity was analyzed in the light of exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. Based upon the exploratory factor analysis, 4 factors were extracted, which were social emotion cue (SEC), direct implement cue (DIC), personnel cue (PC) and indirect implement cue (IIC), and they together explained 64.52% variance. According to the data, test-retest reliability coefficient ranged from 0.57 to 0.63, and Cronbach’s α coefficient ranged from 0.86 to 0.95 across the 4 factors and HACSQ. The adjusted goodness of fit index was 0.75. It was suggested that the HACSQ demonstrated good validities and reliabilities, and may be used as a reliable assessment tool for the cue-sensitization among the heroin abstainers.