Validation of the Veterans Alcoholism Screening Test.

Abstract

The Veterans Alcoholism Screening Test (VAST), developed at a Veterans Administration medical center, is a refinement of the Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test (MAST) that attempts to distinguish between past and present alcoholism. The VAST contains the original 24 questions from the MAST, but each one is followed by 3 questions designed to identify the specific time period to which the question refers: within the last year, 1-5 yr ago and 25 yr ago. The weights and scoring from the VAST questions are the same as for the corresponding MAST questions. In 118 pairs of ambulatory care patients at a Veterans Administration hospital and their relatives, the VAST was a more valid indicator of alcoholism than the MAST based on the agreement between the patients'' and the relatives'' scores for the current period and the 1-5 yr previous. This was true whether test scores were considered as integer-valued variables or converted to categorical variables. The MAST showed a prevalence nearly twice as high for the current period and the period 1-5 yr previous. The VAST was recommended over the MAST because it was more valid, more useful and more accurate.