In the late 1980s, the World Health Organization sponsored the development of the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT), a screening [Page 63]test for excessive alcohol consumption that has international applicability to countries with varying economic wealth and standards of living. The AUDIT was the outgrowth of a six, non-Asian country project, and its development and standardization involved approximately 2,000 primary care patients in Australia, Bulgaria, Kenya, Mexico, Norway, and the United States. As a result, the AUDIT became the first widely available screening instrument designed specifically for international use and developed through large-scale cross-cultural research.

The AUDIT is administered orally in an interview setting or as a self-report questionnaire (completed electronically or on paper). Both formats take an average individual approximately 2 minutes to complete, ...