Psychometric assessment of the Hallucinogen Rating Scale

Authors

Jordi Riba, Area d'Investigació Farmacològica, Institut de Recerca, Hospital de Sant Pau (HSCSP), Sant Antoni M. Claret, 167, 08025 Barcelona, Spain
Antoni Rodríguez-Fornells, Departament de Personalitat, A6aluacio´ i Tractaments Psicolo`gics, Facultat de Psicologia, Uni6ersitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
Rick J. Strassman, School of Medicine, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, and Cottonwood Research Foundation, Taos, New Mexico, USA
Manel J. Barbanoj, Area d'Investigació Farmacològica, Institut de Recerca, Hospital de Sant Pau (HSCSP), Sant Antoni M. Claret, 167, 08025 Barcelona, Spain

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

5-1-2001

Abstract

Reliability and convergent-discriminant validity of a Spanish version of the Hallucinogen Rating Scale (HRS) were assessed in two differentiated populations of hallucinogen users involving the retrospective assessment of drug effects. In Study 1 (immediate assessment), 75 European users of the South American hallucinogenic drink ayahuasca answered the HRS 4 h after drug intake in their habitual setting. In Study 2 (delayed assessment), 56 adult polydrug users answered the HRS and a short form of the Addiction Research Center Inventory (ARCI) recalling the effects they experienced when they last took a hallucinogen, in order to test the convergent-discriminant validity of HRS with the scales of the standard questionnaire used in most studies involving psychoactive drugs. The HRS scales showed increases after both the immediate and delayed retrospective assessment of drug effects. Reliability data indicated that four of the six scales show an acceptable level of internal consistency. Significant but limited correlations were found between the Perception and Somaesthesia scales and the ARCI LSD scale, pointing out the questionnaire's construct validity. Thus, the HRS was sensitive to hallucinogenic drug effects other than those elicited by intravenous N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT), for which it was originally designed, and showed reasonable reliability and convergent validity. Results suggest its usefulness in the evaluation of subjective effects elicited by psychoactive drugs with hallucinogenic properties, and constitute a preliminary approach to the effects of ayahuasca in European subjects.

Publisher

Elsevier

Publication Title

Drug and alcohol dependence

ISSN

0376-8716

Volume

62

Issue

3

First Page

215

Last Page

223

Recommended Citation

Riba J, Rodríguez-Fornells A, Strassman RJ, Barbanoj MJ. Psychometric assessment of the Hallucinogen Rating Scale. Drug Alcohol Depend. 2001 May 1;62(3):215-23. doi: 10.1016/s0376-8716(00)00175-7. PMID: 11295326.