A measure of illness awareness in individuals with nicotine dependence - Nicotine Use Awareness and Insight Scale (NAS).

Impaired illness awareness or the inability to recognize that one is dependent on nicotine may be a barrier to seeking cessation treatment. The Nicotine Use Awareness and Insight Scale (NAS) is a novel scale to assesses subjective illness awareness in individuals with dependence on nicotine. This study provides initial support for the psychometric validity and reliability of the NAS. NAS demonstrated good convergent and discriminant validity with measures of illness recognition and affect states, respectively, internal consistency, and test-retest reliability. The NAS can be used in research and clinical practice to evaluate the impact of impaired illness awareness on treatment and clinical outcomes.