Substance Dependence Severity Scale: reliability and validity for ICD-10 substance use disorders

Area of Science:

• Psychiatry
• Clinical Psychology
• Addiction Medicine

Background:

• The Substance Dependence Severity Scale (SDSS) is a semistructured interview used to assess substance use disorders.
• Previous validation focused on DSM-IV criteria, leaving ICD-10 criteria psychometrically unevaluated.
• Accurate severity assessment is crucial for effective treatment planning and intervention.

Purpose of the Study:

• To psychometrically evaluate the ICD-10 dependence and harmful use scales of the SDSS.
• To assess the test-retest reliability, internal consistency, diagnostic concordance, and concurrent validity of the SDSS' ICD-10 scales.

Main Methods:

• The study involved 180 treated substance users (112 male, 68 female).
• Psychometric properties including test-retest reliability, internal consistency, diagnostic concordance, and concurrent validity were investigated for the SDSS' ICD-10 scales.
• Data were collected on various substances including alcohol, cocaine, heroin, and cannabis.

Main Results:

• Test-retest reliability for ICD-10 dependence scales was good to excellent for alcohol, cocaine, heroin, and cannabis.
• Test-retest reliability for ICD-10 harmful use scales was good for alcohol, cocaine, and heroin, but poor to fair for cannabis.
• Internal consistency, diagnostic concordance, and concurrent validity findings were consistent with reliability results.

Conclusions:

• The SDSS' ICD-10 scales demonstrate acceptable to excellent reliability and validity for assessing substance dependence severity.
• The findings support the utility of the SDSS for evaluating ICD-10 diagnoses of substance dependence and harmful use.
• Further research may be warranted to refine the cannabis harmful use scale assessment.