Introduction:
How researchers and practitioners measure substance use
patterns can have a profound impact on treatment protocols. Throughout the
United States and around the world, various agencies employ sundry intake
devices to determine the severity of substance abuse patterns and related
problems from both a recent and lifetime perspective. Some of the more commonly
used measures include the Addiction Severity Index (ASI) from National
Institutes of Health (NIH), Substance Abuse Subtle Screening Inventory (SASSI)
from Multi-Health
Systems (MHS), and the Simple Screening Instrument for Alcohol and Other
Drugs (SSI-AOD) from the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT).
In recent years, however, the Adult Needs and Strengths
Assessment (ANSA) has become the preferred instrument for many providers of
substance abuse treatment. The ANSA was created to support decision-making in
relation to level of care and service planning, facilitate quality improvement
initiatives, and allow for monitoring of outcomes.
The ANSA currently is being
utilized in a number of locations within the United States and Canada, in such
diverse settings as hospitals, emergency rooms, rehabilitation programs, and
mental health centers.
The ANSA was developed to craft a linkage between the
assessment process and the design of individualized service planning founded
upon evidence-based practices. The original version, the Severity of
Psychiatric Illness (SPI), was created in the 1990s to study decisionmaking in
psychiatric emergency systems. The
ANSA expanded on the concepts of the SPI to include a broader description
of functioning and to incorporate strengths with a recovery focus.
No comments:
Post a Comment