Select an assessment instrument that you might use as a substance abuse counselor in your future practice even though you have no experience as a substance abuse counselor.
1. Select an assessment instrument that you can readily access. Many assessments are free to use/view, and you do not need to spend money to access an addictions assessment for this assignment. There are many assessments out there in the public domain (free), and the UC library has many of them. Here is a helpful website for well-established assessments, and while they may not have links directly to all of the instruments, they do tell you where you can locate them (author, title of assessment, etc.) so you can then look for them on the UC library website: http://lib.adai.uw.edu/instruments/ and click on “Selected assessment instruments” under the paragraph that begins with the gold star.
You may also choose to look at the Samet et al. (2007) article or the Barsky (2006) article from our readings, or the Stauffer (2008) article for suggestions about potential instruments to use. Remember to select an assessment instrument, not a screening tool!
2. After selecting an assessment, you will need to report on the use of the instrument and on its basic psychometric properties. The Samet et al. (2007) article provides several examples of professional critiques/reviews of existing assessment instruments, and you are NOT be allowed to select one of the 6 instruments from this article for your own review (as these critiques have already been presented there). You can, however, use these as guides for your own review.
3. Read through the assessment and any associated instructional guidelines or material that accompanies the instrument (usually there is a research article published with the instrument by the developers of the instrument). You may need to locate additional research that tests the psychometric properties of the instrument (reliability/validity), but many times this is included in the original author’s research.
4. Critique the assessment instrument. You will need to first include basic information about using your selected assessment tool, and these criteria are located on page 20 of the Samet et al. (2007) article (under the General Features of Assessment Instruments section). In addition, you may want to supplement your review using the guidelines starting on page 125 of the Barsky (2006) article.
5. Finally, comment on your own personal reactions to the value of this assessment for your own future use. What are your thoughts on ease of use, the language used, any concerns you have about using this instrument in your own practice? Include any general feelings about the flow of the assessment or ability to capture relevant information you would need to assess your client’s substance use and treatment needs.
6. Post your review of your assessment in a new thread of the Enhanced Discussion board, being sure to include a link to your assessment instrument (or information about how to access this assessment). You do not need to continuously cite information from your assessment tool- just include the access/location information at the beginning of your post.
Suggested Format:
Instrument selected: include full name, authors/creators, full reference citation or link- basically, how to find this instrument.
Critique: A paragraph or two to address key elements of your selected instrument (see #4 above).
Personal reactions: A few sentences (see #5 above).
References:
https://www.mediafire.com/file/dqoiq3xh7ztt0mw/Alcohol_other_Drugs_and_addictions.pdf/file
https://www.mediafire.com/file/vd1hb6v2nttrzpp/Assessing_Addiction_Concepts_and_Instruments.pdf/file
Stauffer (2008) article
Text: Mack, A.H., Brady, K. T., Miller, S.I., & Frances, R. J. (2016). Clinical Textbookof Addictive Disorders (4th ed.). Guilford Press: New York.
