The Addiction Severity Index: predicting relationship to a hospital and a professional

The Addiction Severity Index was developed to be a useful instrument in treatment planning for the substance abuser. Multivariate statistical tests were conducted on the questionnaire for a clinical sample of 190 males at a Veterans Administration hospital. When the desire for psychological treatment with a specific person was taken into consideration, the overall predictive validity of the instrument in designating discharge accounted for 69% of the variance rather than 24% of the variance. This finding could challenge the myth that substance abusers and patients from lower socioeconomic levels are not psychologically minded and not capable of being engaged in psychological process treatment. This finding is also relevant to governmental concerns for quality assurance and cost effectiveness, since it can be utilized to both improve treatment planning and delete irrelevant documentation and assessment procedures.