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The Validity of the Alcohol, Smoking and Substance Involvement Screening Test in Patients with Psychotic Disorders

Background Given the high prevalence of substance use disorders among patients with persistent mental illnesses, with resultant negative health consequences, a brief and easily administered screening test is needed in this population to identify those at risk in order to intervene appropriately. The...

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Main Author: Adlard, Rosalind
Other Authors: Temmingh, Henk
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health 2022
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access_status_str Open Access
author Adlard, Rosalind
author2 Temmingh, Henk
author_browse Adlard, Rosalind
Temmingh, Henk
author_facet Temmingh, Henk
Adlard, Rosalind
author_sort Adlard, Rosalind
collection Thesis
description Background Given the high prevalence of substance use disorders among patients with persistent mental illnesses, with resultant negative health consequences, a brief and easily administered screening test is needed in this population to identify those at risk in order to intervene appropriately. The Alcohol, Smoking and Substance Involvement Screening Test (ASSIST) was developed by the World Health Organisation as a screening instrument. It has been validated in a variety of settings, including in primary care and treatment settings and in first episode psychosis. Aim To determine the validity and reliability of the ASSIST in detecting substance use disorders in patients with multi-episode psychotic disorders. Setting Western Cape, South Africa. Methods The Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis I Disorders was used as the gold standard for detecting DSM-IV substance abuse and dependence. Cronbach's alpha was used to determine the internal consistency of the ASSIST, and receiver operating characteristic analysis was used to evaluate its screening properties. Optimal cut off scores were calculated to maximize sensitivity and specificity. Results A total substance involvement lifetime score of 13 was found to have both sensitivity and specificity of just over 74%. A specific substance involvement score of 4 for alcohol and 3 for cannabis, methamphetamine and ‘other drugs' was found to have optimal balance between sensitivity and specificity. Conclusion The ASSIST is a psychometrically valid screening test for substance use disorders in general, as well as for alcohol, cannabis and methamphetamine use disorders, in patients with multi-episode psychotic disorders.
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institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language eng
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:33:51.607Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2022
publishDateRange 2022
publishDateSort 2022
publisher Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health
publisherStr Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health
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source_str UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/36508 The Validity of the Alcohol, Smoking and Substance Involvement Screening Test in Patients with Psychotic Disorders Adlard, Rosalind Temmingh, Henk Roos, Tessa Psychiatry Background Given the high prevalence of substance use disorders among patients with persistent mental illnesses, with resultant negative health consequences, a brief and easily administered screening test is needed in this population to identify those at risk in order to intervene appropriately. The Alcohol, Smoking and Substance Involvement Screening Test (ASSIST) was developed by the World Health Organisation as a screening instrument. It has been validated in a variety of settings, including in primary care and treatment settings and in first episode psychosis. Aim To determine the validity and reliability of the ASSIST in detecting substance use disorders in patients with multi-episode psychotic disorders. Setting Western Cape, South Africa. Methods The Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis I Disorders was used as the gold standard for detecting DSM-IV substance abuse and dependence. Cronbach's alpha was used to determine the internal consistency of the ASSIST, and receiver operating characteristic analysis was used to evaluate its screening properties. Optimal cut off scores were calculated to maximize sensitivity and specificity. Results A total substance involvement lifetime score of 13 was found to have both sensitivity and specificity of just over 74%. A specific substance involvement score of 4 for alcohol and 3 for cannabis, methamphetamine and ‘other drugs' was found to have optimal balance between sensitivity and specificity. Conclusion The ASSIST is a psychometrically valid screening test for substance use disorders in general, as well as for alcohol, cannabis and methamphetamine use disorders, in patients with multi-episode psychotic disorders. 2022-06-22T14:05:18Z 2022-06-22T14:05:18Z 2022 2022-06-21T11:09:35Z Master Thesis Masters MMed http://hdl.handle.net/11427/36508 eng application/pdf Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health Faculty of Health Sciences
spellingShingle Psychiatry
Adlard, Rosalind
The Validity of the Alcohol, Smoking and Substance Involvement Screening Test in Patients with Psychotic Disorders
thesis_degree_str Master's
title The Validity of the Alcohol, Smoking and Substance Involvement Screening Test in Patients with Psychotic Disorders
title_full The Validity of the Alcohol, Smoking and Substance Involvement Screening Test in Patients with Psychotic Disorders
title_fullStr The Validity of the Alcohol, Smoking and Substance Involvement Screening Test in Patients with Psychotic Disorders
title_full_unstemmed The Validity of the Alcohol, Smoking and Substance Involvement Screening Test in Patients with Psychotic Disorders
title_short The Validity of the Alcohol, Smoking and Substance Involvement Screening Test in Patients with Psychotic Disorders
title_sort validity of the alcohol smoking and substance involvement screening test in patients with psychotic disorders
topic Psychiatry
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/36508
work_keys_str_mv AT adlardrosalind thevalidityofthealcoholsmokingandsubstanceinvolvementscreeningtestinpatientswithpsychoticdisorders
AT adlardrosalind validityofthealcoholsmokingandsubstanceinvolvementscreeningtestinpatientswithpsychoticdisorders