A description of the psychological test (SASSI-3)
The Substance Abuse Subtle Screening Inventory (SASSI-3) is a measure that is easy and brief to use during identification of people who are likely to be suffering from substance abuse disorders. It contains both the noticeable and indirect items, but more likely it is suitable in detecting individuals who are facing challenges with substance abuse and are reluctant or incapable to concede them. The test takes about a quarter of a hour to complete, and it entails about 67 true-false items. Besides, it also entails a section of about 26 item self-report on substance use (MIS, 2013). It is a clinical assessment tool that is used for treatment. The test is comprised of 10 scales which measure dimensions such as: face valid alcohol (FVA), Symptoms (SYM), Subtle Attributes (SAT), Supplemental Addiction Measure (SAM), correctional (COR), Defensiveness (DEF), Family vs. Control Measure (FAM), Face Valid Other Drugs (FVOD), Obvious Attributes (OAT) and Random Answering.
In addition to this, the test is not only used as a screening instrument but also provides clinical insights into a respondent’s defensiveness and other characteristics. The face-validity scales are forthright indicators of recognized drug and alcohol abuse, motivation and usage outcomes, as well as lack of control (Lux 2005)
Why is the test used?
SASSI-3 is a tool that is applied to establish if an individual is suffering from a substance abuse disorder. It can be used on both adults and teenagers who are above the age of 12 years. It utilizes the use of testing people's psychology and takes up to 10-15 minutes. It involves a number of questions on lifestyle and habits of an individual. The test contains some obvious questions and others that are more subtle (MIS, 2013). This way, the persons involved are tested on whether they are able to answer the obvious questions correctly or not. The test is applied to establish whether an individual is suffering from any substance abuse due to the way the test is created. It at times identifies people with substance abuse problems regardless of whether they are willing or unable to admit it to themselves. The administration of the test should strictly be left to clinical professionals (MIS, 2013). When the test is conducted on a minor or rather a teenager and traces of the substance found, chances are that it might one of the family members must be using the same substance and hence the test must be given to one or more family members of that patient’s family.
How is the test administered?
During the administration of the SASSI-3 test there are no detailed instructions required in both the group and group assessment situations. Administrators should make the clients to feel at ease; perhaps, through offering information that is likely to be valuable in addressing their needs. For those patients who may be defensive in co-operating the questionnaire method is the best to identify their problems. When giving back the results or rather feedback to the clients, it is best to notify or rather inform them that they will have a chance of discussing the outcomes with their counselor in order to lower the anxiety and increase their cooperation (MIS, 2013). Clients should also complete every item and give responses to each item in the questionnaire. Every question should have a true or false answer and therefore clients should choose only one response.
Administrators should also not assist the clients in answering the questions in any way but should instead encourage them by telling them that there are no right or wrong answers. The opinion of the client is the most important thing in the administration of the test. For those clients that have the vision or literacy limitations, the items should be read to them are an audio tape used. The administrators of the test should let the clients fill out the answers on their sheets on their own. This will give the client some confidence and trust and they will answer honestly (MIS, 2013).
How the test results are interpreted and used in the treatment.
The SASSI-3 test has an approximately 88% rate of accuracy in determining the substance dependence. However, there are other ways that can be used to test the in substance and treatment, a profile sheet there is a corresponding T-Score that is derived after plotting the raw scores on the graph. For instance, an OAT tally of about 12 resembles a T-score of about 71 and a more than 98 percentile. This implies that about 98% of the individuals offered normative information during the processing of the SASSI as well as the OAT tally not more than 12. Decisions are made based on the decision rule indicated on the right side of the profile sheet, after plotting the scores of the scale and taking into consideration individual profile’s validity (Schmidt, 2001). A client tests positive only when the profile meets any of the criteria, and negative when the outcome does not correspond to the decision rules.
References
Laux, John M.; Salyers, Kathleen M.; Kotova, Ekaterina. (2005). A Psychometric Evaluation of the SASSI-3 in a College Sample. Journal of College Counseling, 8 (1), 41.
MIS ( 2013) SASSI - Substance Abuse Subtle Screening Inventory. Retrieved from http://www.mhs.com/product.aspx?gr=cli&prod=sasi&id=overview
Schmidt, E. A. (2001). Pre- and Post-Test Administration of the Adult Substance Abuse Subtle Screening Inventory-2 (SASSI-2): Detecting Change. Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly, 19 (2), 63-73.
