Walters, ScottLivingston, Melvin D.Suzuki, Sumihiro2019-08-222019-08-222016-03-232016-03-03https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12503/26812People who are chronically homeless are nearly seven times as likely to use illicit drugs, compared to the general population. We evaluated the validity of self-reported drug use in a sample of previously homeless people housed in permanent supportive housing programs in Ft. Worth. We used data from 345 clients who completed a baseline assessment prior to participating in a health coaching intervention. Self-reported drug use and saliva drug tests were compared to determine the positive predictive value for amphetamines/methamphetamines (47.1% agreement), cocaine (43.8% agreement), and marijuana (69.7% agreement) drug tests. Exclusively relying on self-reported drug use may not be a valid measure of drug use in this population. However, we also found instances where people self-reported recent drug use that was not captured by the saliva drug test. In general, amphetamine/methamphetamine and cocaine use was adequately captured by the biological test, while marijuana use was best captured by a combination of self-report and biological data. Assessments of drug use among permanent supportive housing residents should not rely exclusively on self-reported measurements of drug use.enposter