Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment 

About: Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment is an academic journal. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Substance abuse & Population. It has an ISSN identifier of 0740-5472. Over the lifetime, 3626 publication(s) have been published receiving 126486 citation(s).

The fifth edition of the addiction severity index

Abstract: The Addiction Severity Index (ASI) is 12 years old and has been revised to include a new section on family history of alcohol, drug, and psychiatric problems. New items were added in existing sections to assess route of drug administration; additional illegal activities; emotional, physical, and sexual abuse; quality of the recovery environment; and history of close personal relationships. No changes were made in the composite scoring to maintain comparability with previous editions. This article discusses the clinical and research uses of the ASI over the past 12 years, emphasizing some special circumstances that affect its administration. The article then describes the rationale for and description of the changes made in the ASI. The final section provides "normative data" on the composite scores and severity ratings for samples of opiate, alcohol, and cocaine abusers as well as drug abusing inmates, pregnant women, homeless men, and psychiatrically ill substance abusers.

Assessing organizational readiness for change

Abstract: A comprehensive assessment of organizational functioning and readiness for change (ORC) was developed based on a conceptual model and previous findings on transferring research to practice. It focuses on motivation and personality attributes of program leaders and staff, institutional resources, and organizational climate as an important first step in understanding organizational factors related to implementing new technologies into a program. This article describes the rationale and structure of the ORC and shows it has acceptable psychometric properties. Results of surveys of over 500 treatment personnel from more than 100 treatment units support its construct validity on the basis of agreement between management and staff on several ORC dimensions, relationships between staff organizational climate dimensions and patient engagement in treatment, and associations of agency resources and climate with organizational stability. Overall, these results indicate the ORC can contribute to the study of organizational change and technology transfer by identifying functional barriers involved.

Assessing competence in the use of motivational interviewing

Abstract: This report presents reliability, validity and sensitivity indices for the Motivational Interviewing Treatment Integrity (MITI) scale. Factor analysis of MI treatment sessions coded with the Motivational Interviewing Skills Code (MISC) was used to derive 10 elements of MI practice, forming the MITI. Canonical correlation revealed that the MITI captured 59% of the variability in the MISC. Reliability estimates for the MITI were derived using three masked, independent coders. Intra-class coefficients ranged from .5 to .9 and were generally in the good to excellent range. Comparison of MITI scores before and after MI workshops indicate good sensitivity for detecting improvement in clinical practice as result of training. Implications for the use of this instrument in research and supervision are discussed.

The Cannabis Youth Treatment (CYT) Study: Main findings from two randomized trials. Commentary

Abstract: This article presents the main outcome findings from two inter-related randomized trials conducted at four sites to evaluate the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of five short-term outpatient interventions for adolescents with cannabis use disorders. Trial 1 compared five sessions of Motivational Enhancement Therapy plus Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (MET/CBT) with a 12-session regimen of MET and CBT (MET/CBT12) and another that included family education and therapy components (Family Support Network [FSN]). Trial II compared the five-session MET/CBT with the Adolescent Community Reinforcement Approach (ACRA) and Multidimensional Family Therapy (MDFT). The 600 cannabis users were predominately white males, aged 15-16. All five CYT interventions demonstrated significant pre-post treatment improvements during the 12 months after random assignment to a treatment intervention in the two main outcomes: days of abstinence and the percent of adolescents in recovery (no use or abuse/dependence problems and living in the community). Overall, the clinical outcomes were very similar across sites and conditions; however, after controlling for initial severity, the most cost-effective interventions were MET/CBT5 and MET/CBT12 in Trial 1 and ACRA and MET/CBT5 in Trial 2. It is possible that the similar results occurred because outcomes were driven more by general factors beyond the treatment approaches tested in this study; or because of shared, general helping factors across therapies that helped these teens attend to and decrease their connection to cannabis and alcohol.