An Improved Diagnostic Evaluation Instrument for Substance Abuse Patients

TLDR

The Addiction Severity Index (ASI) is a structured interview created to provide a reliable, valid, and standardized diagnostic and evaluative tool for alcohol and drug abuse. The authors propose using the ASI to match patients with appropriate treatments and to enhance comparability across research studies. The ASI can be administered by a technician in 20–30 minutes, yielding 10‑point severity ratings across six addiction‑related domains. Analyses of ASI ratings from 524 male veterans demonstrated high reliability and validity, independence among problem areas, and six distinct subgroups with differing treatment problem patterns.

Abstract

The Addiction Severity Index (ASI) is a structured clinical interview developed to fill the need for a reliable, valid, and standardized diagnostic and evaluative instrument in the field of alcohol and drug abuse. The ASI may be administered by a technician in 20 to 30 minutes producing 10-point problem severity ratings in each of six areas commonly affected by addiction. Analyses of these problem severity ratings on 524 male veteran alcoholics and drug addicts showed them to be highly reliable and valid. Correlational analyses using the severity ratings indicated considerable independence between the problem areas, suggesting that the treatment problems of patients are not necessarily related to the severity of their chemical abuse. Cluster analyses using these ratings revealed the presence of six subgroups having distinctly different patterns of treatment problems. The authors suggest the use of the ASI to match patients with treatments and to promote greater comparability of research findings.