CAADC Screening and Assessment Instruments for SUD 5 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A counselor administers the Global Appraisal of Individual Needs (GAIN). What is a key advantage of this comprehensive tool?
- It takes only 5 minutes to administer
- It integrates screening, assessment, and treatment planning data (Correct answer)
- It is limited to assessing alcohol use only
- It does not require clinical training to interpret
Correct answer: It integrates screening, assessment, and treatment planning data
The GAIN integrates biopsychosocial screening and assessment data to support diagnosis, placement, and treatment planning across multiple problem areas.
Question 2: When interpreting a client's DAST-10 score of 6, the appropriate clinical response is:
- No action needed
- Brief advice only
- Referral for further assessment and treatment (Correct answer)
- Immediate inpatient hospitalization
Correct answer: Referral for further assessment and treatment
A DAST-10 score of 6–8 indicates substantial drug use problems, warranting referral for further assessment and treatment intervention.
Question 3: Which assessment tool measures an individual's readiness to change using a series of scaled questions mapped to the stages of change model?
- URICA (Correct answer)
- AUDIT
- ASI
- CAGE
Correct answer: URICA
The University of Rhode Island Change Assessment (URICA) measures readiness to change by mapping responses to the precontemplation, contemplation, action, and maintenance stages.
Question 4: A pregnant client presents for assessment. Which screening tool has been validated specifically for alcohol use during pregnancy?
- TWEAK (Correct answer)
- DAST-10
- MAST-G
- CRAFFT
Correct answer: TWEAK
The TWEAK (Tolerance, Worried, Eye-opener, Amnesia, K/Cut down) was specifically validated for identifying at-risk drinking in pregnant women.
Question 5: In standardized SUD assessment, 'convergent validity' means that an instrument:
- Produces consistent results across different testing occasions
- Correlates appropriately with other measures of the same construct (Correct answer)
- Correctly identifies non-users as non-disordered
- Measures the same thing across different cultural groups
Correct answer: Correlates appropriately with other measures of the same construct
Convergent validity refers to the degree to which a measure correlates with other established measures of the same underlying construct.
Question 6: The ORT (Opioid Risk Tool) is primarily used to:
- Diagnose opioid use disorder in emergency settings
- Screen for overdose history
- Stratify risk of opioid misuse in patients prescribed opioids for pain (Correct answer)
- Assess withdrawal severity in opioid-dependent patients
Correct answer: Stratify risk of opioid misuse in patients prescribed opioids for pain
The ORT is a brief 5-item self-report tool used in pain management settings to predict risk of opioid misuse before or during opioid therapy.
Question 7: Which of the following best describes the clinical utility of using multiple screening instruments rather than a single tool?
- It eliminates the need for a clinical interview
- It increases billable hours without clinical benefit
- It improves sensitivity and specificity by cross-validating findings (Correct answer)
- It is required by all state licensing boards
Correct answer: It improves sensitivity and specificity by cross-validating findings
Using multiple validated instruments helps cross-validate findings, increasing overall diagnostic accuracy by compensating for limitations of any single tool.
CAADC Screening and Assessment Instruments for SUD 5
A counselor administers the Global Appraisal of Individual Needs (GAIN).
What is a key advantage of this comprehensive tool?