Assessment Instruments

Good science requires good measurement.  Our research group at CASAA has been particularly active in developing and improving instruments for measuring addiction treatment outcomes and related constructs.  The studies below are arranged by topic.

Alcohol/Drug Use

One advantage in addiction treatment research is that there are fairly clear outcome measures.  Although particular audiences (such as law enforcement) may be especially interested in certain outcomes (such as criminal recidivism), there is general consensus that effective treatments should be altering clients’ alcohol/drug use.

Matthews, D. B., & Miller, W. R. (1979).  Estimating blood alcohol concentration: Two computer programs and their applications in therapy and research.  Addictive Behaviors, 4, 55-60.

Miller, W. R., Heather, N., & Hall, W. (1991).  Calculating standard drink units: International comparisons.  British Journal of Addiction, 86, 43-47.

Markham, M. R., Miller, W. R., & Arciniega, L. (1993).  BACCuS 2.01:  Computer software for quantifying alcohol consumption.  Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, and Computers, 25, 420-421.

Cervantes, E. A., Miller, W. R., & Tonigan, J. S. (1994).  Comparison of timeline follow-back and averaging methods for quantifying alcohol consumption in treatment research.  Assessment, 1, 23-30.

Miller, W. R., & Del Boca, F. K. (1994).  Measurement of drinking behavior using the Form-90 family of instruments.  Journal of Studies on Alcohol, Supplement No. 12, 112-118.

Grant, K. A., Tonigan, J. S., & Miller, W. R. (1995).  Comparison of three alcohol consumption measures: A concurrent validity study.  Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 56, 168-172.

Grant, K. A., Arciniega, L. M., Tonigan, J. S., Miller, W. R., & Meyers, R. J. (1997).  Are reconstructed self-reports of drinking reliable?  Addiction, 92, 601-606.

Tonigan, J. S., Miller, W. R., & Brown, J. M. (1997).  The reliability of Form 90: An instrument for assessing alcohol treatment outcome.  Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 58. 358-364.

Westerberg, V. S., Tonigan, J. S., & Miller, W. R. (1998).  Reliability of Form 90D: An instrument for quantifying drug use.  Substance Abuse, 19, 179-189.

 

Comprehensive Outcome Evaluation

Other instruments seek a broader picture of the effects of treatment, and scan a range of measures.  Here are some more comprehensive interviews developed and evaluated by our group.  The Form 90 family of instruments was developed for Project MATCH and also used in subsequent trials such as the COMBINE Study.  These instruments are now in the public domain and can be downloaded from http://casaa.unm.edu.

Marlatt, G. A., & Miller, W. R. (1984).  The Comprehensive Drinker Profile.  Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources.

Miller, W. R., & Marlatt, G. A. (1984).  Manual for the Comprehensive Drinker Profile.  Odessa, FL:             Psychological Assessment Resources.

Miller, W. R., & Marlatt, G. A. (1987).  The Brief Drinker Profile.  Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources.

Miller, W. R., & Marlatt, G. A. (1987).  The Follow-up Drinker Profile.  Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources.

Miller, W. R., & Marlatt, G. A. (1987).  Manual supplement for the Brief Drinker Profile, Follow-up Drinker Profile, and Collateral Interview Form.  Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources

Miller, W. R. (1988).  The Comprehensive Drinker Profile.  In M. Hersen & A. S. Bellack (Eds.), Dictionary of behavioral assessment techniques.  New York: Pergamon Press.

Miller, W. R. (1996).  Manual for Form 90: A structured assessment interview for drinking and related behaviors.  (Volume 5, Project MATCH Monograph Series).  Rockville, MD: National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

Rychtarik, R. G., Koutsky, J. R., & Miller, W. R. (1998).  Profiles of the Alcohol Use Inventory: A large sample cluster analysis conducted with split-sample replication rules. Psychological Assessment, 10, 107-119.

Bray, J. W., Zarkin, G. A., Miller, W. R., Mitra, D., Kivlahan, D. R., Martin, D. J., Couper, D. J., & Cisler, R. A. (2007).  Measuring economic outcomes of alcohol treatment using the Economic Form 90.  Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 68, 248-255.

 

Motivation for Change

Miller, W. R., & Tonigan, J. S. (1996).  Assessing drinkers= motivation for change: The Stages of Change Readiness and Treatment Eagerness Scale (SOCRATES).  Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 10, 81-89.

Miller, W. R., & Johnson, W. R. (2008). A natural language screening measure for motivation to change.  Addictive Behaviors, 33, 1177-1182.

Neuropsychology of Alcohol Impairment

Miller, W. R., & Orr, J. (1980).  Nature and sequence of neuropsychological deficits in alcoholics.  Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 41 325-337.

Miller, W. R., & Saucedo, C. F. (1983).  Assessment of neuropsychological impairment and brain damage in problem drinkers.  In C. J. Golden, J. A. Moses, Jr., J. A. Coffman, W. R. Miller, & F. D. Strider (Eds.), Clinical neuropsychology: Interface with neurologic and psychiatric disorders (pp. 141-195).  New York: Grune & Stratton

Loberg, T., & Miller, W. R. (1986).  Personality, cognitive, and neuropsychological dimensions of harmful alcohol consumption: A cross-national comparison of clinical samples.  Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 472, 75-97.

Problems Related to Alcohol/Drug Use

Treatment evaluators are often interested not only in effects on substance use, but also on life problems related to such use.  We developed the Drinker Inventory of Consequences (DrInC) specifically for this purpose in alcohol research, and the related Inventory of Drug Use Consequences (InDUC) for drug treatment research.  Both are public domain instruments.

Miller, W. R., Hedrick, K. E., & Taylor, C. A. (1983).  Addictive behaviors and life problems before and after behavioral treatment of problem drinkers.  Addictive Behaviors, 8, 403-412.

Miller, W. R., Tonigan, J. S., & Longabaugh, R. (1995).  The Drinker Inventory of Consequences (DrInC):An instrument for assessing adverse consequences of alcohol abuse.  Test manual.  (Volume 4, Project MATCH Monograph Series).  Rockville, MD: National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

Miller, W. R., Westerberg, V. S., & Waldron, H. B. (1995).  Evaluating alcohol problems.   In R. K. Hester & W. R. Miller (Eds.), Handbook of alcoholism treatment approaches: Effective alternatives (2nd ed., pp.61-88).  Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

Miller, W. R., & Cervantes, E. A. (1997).  Gender and patterns of alcohol problems: Pretreatment responses of women and men to the Comprehensive Drinker Profile.  Journal of Clinical Psychology, 53, 263-277.

Tonigan, J. S., & Miller, W. R. (2002).  The Inventory of Drug Use Consequences (InDUC): Test-retest stability and sensitivity to detect change.  Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 16, 165-168.

Forcehimes, A. A., Tonigan, J. S., Miller, W. R., Kenna, G. A., & Baer, J. S. (2007).  Psychometrics of the Drinker Inventory of Consequences (DrInC).  Addictive Behaviors, 32, 1699-1704.

Hettema, J. E, Miller, W. R., Tonigan, J. S., & Delaney, H. D. (2008).  The test-retest reliability of the Form-90-DWI: An instrument for assessing intoxicated driving. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 22, 117-121.

Psychological Dependence

Miller, W. R., & Pechacek, T. F. (1987).  New roads: Assessing and treating psychological dependence.  Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, 4, 73-77.

Screening and Diagnosis

Some instruments are designed primarily to detect the presence (or possible presence) of alcohol/drug problems.  These publications pertain to such instruments.  Our review of research on the widely-used SASSI (Feldstein & Miller, 2007) found no substantial evidence supporting its validity as a screening instrument.

Miller, W. R. (1976).  Alcoholism scales and objective assessment methods: A review.  Psychological Bulletin, 83, 649-674.

Feldstein, S. W., & Miller, W. R. (2007).  Does subtle screening for substance abuse work?  A review of the Substance Abuse Subtle Screening Inventory (SASSI).  Addiction, 102, 41-50.

Miller, W. R., & Feldstein, S. W. (2007).  SASSI: A response to Lazowski and Miller.  Addiction, 102, 1002-1004.

Relapse Prediction

Miller, W. R., & Harris, R. J. (2000).  A simple scale of Gorski=s warning signs for relapse.  Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 61, 759-765.

 

 

Self-Regulation

Brown, J. M., Miller, W. R., & Lawendowski, L. A.  (1999).  The Self‑Regulation Questionnaire.  In L. Vandecreek & T. L. Jackson (Eds.), Innovations in clinical practice:  A source book.  Vol. 17, pp. 281-293.  Sarasota, FL:  Professional Resources Press.

Spiritual/Religious Variables.

Connors, G. J., Tonigan, J. S., & Miller, W. R. (1996).  A measure of religious background and behavior for use in behavior change research.  Psychology of Addictive Behavior, 10, 90-96.

 

Therapist Variables

Miller, W. R., Hedrick, K. E., & Orlofsky, D. (1991).  The Helpful Responses Questionnaire: A procedure for measuring therapeutic empathy.  Journal of Clinical Psychology, 47, 444-448.

Moyers, T. B., & Miller, W. R. (1993).  Therapists’ conceptualizations of alcoholism: Measurement and implications for treatment.  Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 7, 238-245.

Miller, W. R., & C’de Baca, J.  (1995).  What every mental health professional should know about alcohol.  Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, 12, 355-365.  (Updated by the Brown University Center of Alcohol and Addiction Studies Postdoctoral Fellows (2009).  Alcohol Education Inventory – Revised: What every mental health professional should know about alcohol.  Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, 37, 41-53.

Verification of Self-Report

The truthfulness of self-reported alcohol/drug use in research has often been questioned.  Our research has found confidential research self-reports to be generally accurate (at least when verification measures are obtained).

Reyes, E., Miller, W. R., Taylor, C. A., & Spalding, C. T. (1978).  The activity of gamma-glutamyl   transpeptidase in the serum of problem drinkers.  Western Pharmacological Society Proceedings, 21, 289-297.

Miller, W. R., Crawford, V. L., & Taylor, C. A. (1979).  Significant others as corroborative sources for problem drinkers.  Addictive Behaviors, 4, 67-70.

Reyes, E., & Miller, W. R. (1980).  Serum gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase as a diagnostic aid in problem drinkers.  Addictive Behaviors, 5, 59-65.

Miller, W. R., & Marlatt, G. A. (1987).  The Collateral Interview Form. Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources.