Validation study of the Turkish version of the Yale - Brown obsessive compulsive scale for heavy drinking in a group of male patients.

Psychometric properties of Turkish version of the Yale Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale for heavy drinking (YBOCS-hd) were examined in alcohol-dependent male patients. Factor structure, internal consistency and discriminant validity of the YBOCS-hd were analysed in a sample of 117 male patients diagnosed with alcohol dependence. To study its convergent validity, the YBOCS-hd was correlated with the Addiction Severity Index in 34 of the patients. A test - retest reliability study was performed on the data from 34 patients. Correlation between the YBOCS-hd total score and the ASI Alcohol Use score was moderate (r = 0.51). One factor explained 50.2% of the variance. The YBOCS-hd was able to discriminate the groups abstinent for less than 1 month and a second group with at least 1 month of abstinence. Test - retest correlation was high (r = 0.81, ICC = 0.81). The Turkish version of the YBOCS-hd proved to be a reliable and valid instrument measuring craving in alcohol-dependent male individuals.