Pathways Courses - The ABCs of Bullying

The ABCs of Bullying
Addressing, Blocking, and Curbing School Aggression

Supplements

Screening Tools for Alcohol Use Disorders

Diagnostic interviews, in which clients are asked a set of predetermined questions, are considered by many researchers and clinicians to be the most comprehensive measure of alcohol use disorders (Martin & Winters, 1998). A number of criteria should be considered before selecting a diagnostic interview for adolescents, including (Martin & Winters, 1998):

The diagnostic interview should have demonstrated reliability and validity with regard to adolescents.
Assessments should preferably involve lifetime and recent alcohol use.
For positive responses, the instrument should have information relating to when the symptoms began and ended.
There should be questions to determine whether the symptoms are persistent, recurrent, or clinically significant.
The diagnostic interview should cover all areas that may influence a youth's drinking, including prior treatment, family and peer alcohol use, school functioning, and mental health status. Often, clinicians use multiple tools to complement each other and ensure all relevant information is gathered.

Many adolescents with substance use disorders have comorbid psychiatric disorders including conduct disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, anxiety disorders, affective disorders, and mood disorders such as depression.

Substance Abuse Subtle Screening Instrument Adolescent Version (SASSI-A2)

SASSI is a brief and easily administered screening tool that helps identify individuals with a high probability of having a substance use disorder. Developed originally in 1988, the first version of the SASSI focused on adults. The newer adolescent version adapts SASSI into questions more appropriate for the younger client.

SASSI-A2 identifies substance use disorders, both substance dependence and substance abuse, with an overall, empirically tested accuracy of 94 percent. It is written at a fourth-grade reading level and is intended for youth ages 12-18 years old. SASSI is available in multiple formats including:

A one-page questionnaire that requires about 15 minutes to complete and can be scored in approximately 5 minutes
Computerized
Audio-taped for those with reading difficulties

For more information or for ordering, go to www.sassi.com.

Adolescent Diagnostic Interview (ADI)

This assessment tool addresses substance use disorders in youth ages 12-18 years. Based on the DSM-IV criteria, it assesses psychosocial stressors, school and interpersonal functioning, and cognitive impairment. It also screens for problems that are commonly associated with substance abuse.

There are 213 interview questions, though not all are asked. Answers to the "gateway" questions determine the course of the interview. The time required for the interview is roughly 45 minutes, with 15 to 20 minutes needed for scoring. Only trained paraprofessionals or mental health professionals should give the test.

For more information or for ordering, go to www.wpspublish.com.

Alcohol Use Inventory (AUI)

AUI is a set of 24 scales that examine:

How people perceive the benefits from drinking
Their styles of drinking
Their ideas about the consequences of drinking
Their thoughts about how to deal with any drinking problems.

These sets of constructs follow a "multiple condition theory" of alcohol use (NIAAA, 2001). The target population is adolescents over age 16. There are 228 items, with 24 subscales.

Training is required for administration. Scoring time is 3 to 5 minutes. For ordering information, go to http://assessments.ncspearson.com.

Mental Health Screening Form III (MHSF-III)

This 18-question screening form was developed as a device for clients seeking admission to substance abuse treatment programs. Each question requires a "yes" or "no" response, and the questions all reflect the person's entire history; therefore, all questions begin with, "Have you ever..."

Ideally, a staff member should read aloud the mental health screening form and record the adolescent's answers. Questions that were answered "yes" require asking additional questions such as, "When did this problem first develop?" or "How long did it last?" Any staff member can administer the questionnaire, but a trained mental health professional should be consulted about any "yes" responses to questions 3 through 17.

Questions 5 though 17 reflect symptoms associated with the following diagnoses/diagnostic categories (Carroll, 2000):

Q5	Schizophrenia
Q6	Depressive disorders
Q7	Post-traumatic stress disorder
Q8	Phobias
Q9	Intermittent explosive disorder
Q10	Delusional disorder
Q11	Sexual/identity disorder
Q12	Eating disorders
Q13	Manic episode
Q14	Panic disorder
Q15	Obsessive-compulsive disorder
Q16	Pathological gambling
Q17	Learning disorder/mental retardation

A "yes" response to any of the questions 5-17 does not, by itself, indicate a mental health disorder exists, but raises the possibility of a current problem, which is why a consultation with a mental health professional is strongly recommended.