Evaluate Your Drug Consumption
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Acronym: |
TLFB Drug, Cigarette, and Marijuana |
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Author/Developer : |
Sobell, L. C., Sobell, M. B., Buchan, G., Cleland, P. A., Fedoroff, I., & Leo, G. I. (1996 November). The reliability of the Timeline Followback method applied to drug, cigarette, and cannabis use. Presented at the 30th Annual Meeting of the Association for Advancement of Behavior Therapy. New York, NY. Sobell, Linda C. & Sobell, Mark B. |
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Publication dates: |
1996. |
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Description / Type of Assessment: |
The TLFB is a method to assess recent cigarette, marijuana, and other drug use. The TLFB can be administered by an interviewer, self-administered, or administered by computer It involves asking clients to retrospectively estimate their drug, marijuana or cigarette use 7 days to 2 years prior to the interview date. For cigarettes and marijuana, individuals are asked to estimate the number of cigarettes or joints smoked per day. For all other drug use, only frequency of use is captured (i.e., used or did not use). At this time, quantity estimates of other drug use are not meaningful. |
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Primary use / Purpose: |
Assessment (pre- and post-intervention) of cigarette, marijuana, and other drug use. |
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Domains measured / Life Areas / Problems Assessed: |
Quantitative estimations of cigarette, marijuana, and other drug use. |
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Population: |
Males and females ages 14 years and older in the general population and clinical samples |
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Administration / Completion Time: |
10-30 minutes to complete, depending on the time period |
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Scoring Procedures: |
The TLFB provides a variety of variables and different ways of reporting individual use levels. |
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Scoring Time: |
Not applicable. |
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Credentials/Training: |
Minimum training is necessary. |
Evidence for the method's validity derives mainly from clinical populations. TLFB self-reports of drug, marijuana, and cigarette use have typically been validated using, (1) measures of drug-related problems, (3) collateral informants' reports of the subjects' cigarette use; (3) urine tests; and (6) nicotine assays.
(1) Biochemical studies have found that reports of drug and nicotine use and biochemical tests of drug use (urine tests and hair assays) and nicotine levels (saliva cotinine) are related to drug and nicotine use, respectively, as reported on the TLFB.
(2) Correlations between TLFB drug use data and scores on the Leeds Dependence Questionnaire (LDQ) provide evidence for the validity of the TLFB method.
(3) Positive correlations have also been found in clinical studies that compared client and collateral reports of the clients' cigarette use
