The impact of T-ACASI interviewing on reported drug use among men who have sex with men

Measurements of drug use and other illicit or stigmatized behaviors are subject to nontrivial underreporting biases. During in-person surveys, respondents are more likely to report such behaviors when interviewed using techniques that maximize interviewee privacy, e.g., use of paper SAQs and audio-CASI rather than questioning by human interviewers. Until recently, respondents in telephone surveys could not be offered similar privacy. A new technology, telephone audio computer-assisted self-interviewing (T-ACASI) overcomes this limitation of telephone surveys by allowing respondents to respond to a computer. A randomized experimental test of T-ACASI was embedded in the Urban Men's Health Study (UMHS). UMHS surveyed a probability sample of 2,881 men from four United States cities and who reported having sex with men. Respondents interviewed using T-ACASI reported a higher prevalence of drug use and drug-related behaviors than respondents interviewed by human interviewers. However, survey respondents were more likely to break off an interview when the interview was conducted by a T-ACASI computer rather than by a human interviewer. [Translations are provided in the International Abstracts Section of this issue.]