Joint Effort 2.0 : Evaluation Among General Population

Protective Behavioral Strategies for Marijuana

Adoption of Protective Behavioral Strategies; measured with the Protective Behavioral Strategies for Marijuana scale (PBSM-17). The French version of the questionnaire translated by Côté et al. (2021) will be used. The 17 items each represent a behavioral protection strategy. They are measured in terms of frequency of use on a six-point Likert-type scale (never, rarely, occasionally, sometimes, often and always). The total score of the PBSM-17 is obtained by calculating the total score of each item and then converting this raw score into a standardized form (T-score) ranging from 15 to 73. The lower the total score, the lesser the use of PBS.

Intention to take action

Intention to take action on cannabis use is assessed via a three-item French-language questionnaire developed for this study, based on Ajzen's guidelines for measuring Theory of Planned Behavior. The questionnaire consist of 3 items: 1) "I intend to take action on my cannabis use in the coming month"; 2) "In the coming month, the chances that I will take action on my cannabis use are…"; and 3) "In the coming month, I will take action on my cannabis use." The items are rated on a seven-point Likert scale ranging, respectively, from "strongly disagree" to "strongly agree", "very low" to "very high", and "very unlikely" to "very likely". The score of intention to change is the sum of the 3 items (possible score range: 3 to 21). The lower the total score, the weaker the intention to take action on CU.

Cannabis use frequency

Cannabis use frequency is measured by a question adapted from the French version of the Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) : "How often did you use cannabis in the past month?". The answers follows a six-category rating scale: never; one day in the past month; 2-3 days in the past month; 1-2 days per week in the past month; 3-4 days per week in the past month; 5-6 days per week in the past month; and every day.

Severity of Dependence

Level of dependence is measured with the Severity of Dependence Scale (french version). It consists of five items covering different psychological aspects of dependence: feeling of impaired control, anxiety, preoccupations, wish to stop, and compulsive use. The possible score ranges from 0 to 15. Items 1 to 4 are scored as follows: 0 = never/almost never, 1 = sometimes, 2 = often, and 3 = always/nearly always. Item 5 is scored as follows: 0 = not difficult, 1 = quite difficult, 2 = very difficult, and 3 = impossible. Previous studies have set empirically derived optimal cut-off scores for cannabis dependence at 2 to 4 or greater.

Engagement

UMARS : engagement subscale The User Version of the Mobile Application Rating Scale (uMARS) is a reliable tool for assessing the quality of mHealth apps. It consists of 20 items grouped into 4 quality subscales-engagement, functionality, aesthetics, and information-as well as 1 subjective quality subscale. Each item is rated on a 5-point scale ranging from 1 (inadequate) to 5 (excellent).