Adaptation of and Protocol for the Validation of the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) in the Russian Federation for Use in Primary Healthcare

AIMS: To adapt and validate the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) for use in the Russian Federation and countries with Russian-speaking populations by: 1) Operationalizing alcohol use patterns to allow for the best identification of hazardous use patterns in the Russian context. 2) Determining the best cut-off values for brief advice/interventions in primary healthcare settings. 3) Determining the best cut-off values for potential alcohol use disorders. METHODS: Systematic review of past use and validation of the Russian-language AUDIT. Interviews to be conducted with experts to identify problems encountered in the use of existing Russian-language AUDIT versions. A pilot study using a revised translation of the Russian-language AUDIT that incorporates country-specific drinking patterns in the Russian Federation. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: The systematic review identified over 60 different Russian-language AUDIT versions without systematic validation studies. The main difficulties encountered with the use of the AUDIT in the Russian Federation were related to the lack of: a concept and definition for a standard drink; low-risk drinking guidelines/thresholds and inclusion of the specific drinking pattern of episodic heavy drinking. A revised version of the Russian-language AUDIT was created based on the pilot studies, and was validated in primary healthcare facilities in all regions in 2019/2020.