The PAAÖ is a 5-item self-report questionnaire developed to assess the severity of alcohol cravings (frequency, intensity, duration, resistance, and overall craving) for the previous week. The Penn Alcohol Craving Scale (PAAÖ) was developed by Flannery and colleagues (1999). Each item is scored on a scale of 0 to 6. Thus, the maximum total craving score is 30.
The PAAS has demonstrated excellent reliability and good construct and discriminant validity. The Turkish version of the scale has been found to be valid and reliable among male alcohol-dependent patients undergoing inpatient treatment.
The Cronbach’s alpha value for the Substance Craving Scale—an adaptation of the scale for individuals with non-alcohol substance use disorders—was found to be 0.84 for the entire scale. It was determined that the adjusted item-total correlation values for each item ranged from 0.75 to 0.82.
It is reported that multi-item “craving” scales are more reliable than single-item craving scales
. Among the multi-item craving scales developed to date, the PAAÖ has the fewest items—meaning it takes less time to administer—yet its superiority over single-item scales has been demonstrated due to its inclusion of multiple items. It has been determined that the PAAÖ
has been found to possess high validity and reliability (27). The PAAÖ has also been shown to better identify cravings compared to the other two multi-item craving scales
(21). The PAAÖ has also been used in studies evaluating the efficacy of medications to reduce alcohol cravings. In our study, it was determined that the Turkish version of the PAAÖ is an easy-to-administer and reliable scale capable of identifying alcohol cravings within one month.