Substance Use Screenings
Characteristics of a good screening tool
- A reading level that is compatible with the population being served
- Easily administered and scored by non-clinicians
- Tested in the general population and at the national level
- Has demonstrated adequate reliability and validity
- Has a minimum documented specificity of .70. It is better to give preference to sensitivity standards because it is better to ‘catch’ too many non-cases than to miss too many true cases
A good screening tool, when screening for mental health, has the ability to predict a range of diagnosable mental health conditions. Examples may include: affective disorders, anxiety disorders, personality disorders, psychoses, or alcohol and drug related disorders.
A screening tool for identifying the likelihood of a substance use disorders identifies symptom clusters consistent with a substance-related disorder as defined by the current version of the DSM.