[The first step towards a unified approach: validation of the Hungarian version of the Clinical Institute Withdrawal Assessment of Alcohol, Revised in Hungarian general hospital settings].

The available literature and protocols have unequivocally suggested that the Clinical Institute Withdrawal Assessment of Alcohol, Revised is a psychometric scale for identifying and following the signs of alcohol withdrawal. However, there has not been any validated tool for the identification of withdrawal symptoms in Hungarian general hospital settings. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the validity and the reliability of the Hungarian version of this scale among patients hospitalized with alcohol withdrawal syndrome. The translation of the scale into Hungarian was done by 'back translation' method, followed by testing the face validity. The empirical phase was performed in the Department of Psychiatry, University of Szeged. Patients admitted with alcohol withdrawal syndrome (n = 30) were recruited from the inpatient units of the clinic. Clinical Institute Withdrawal Assessment of Alcohol, Revised and Clinical Global Impression - Severity Scale were recorded every two days. Statistical comparisons of data were performed with repeated-measures ANOVA. Cronbach's alpha, item-total correlation, convergent and discriminant validity were determined. Significant decrease of the total scores of Clinical Institute Withdrawal Assessment of Alcohol, Revised and Clinical Global Impression - Severity Scale was observed between the six measurements (F = 202.46, p<0.001; F = 503.04, p<0.001). Cronbach alpha values were above 0.7 during the first 3 measurement days. The withdrawal and severity scores recorded the same day showed positively significant correlations (>0.45). Our findings demonstrate that the Clinical Institute Withdrawal Assessment of Alcohol, Revised is a reliable and valid psychometric tool for the detailed analysis of withdrawal symptoms in Hungarian general hospital settings. Orv Hetil. 2019; 160(30): 1184-1192.