Healthline
Readings
Use The Substance-Related Disorder Assessment: A Roadmap to Effective Treatment Planning to read the following:
• Review Chapter 5, “Comprehensive Assessment,” pages 53–62.
Use the Capella Library to read the following:
• Borsari, B., Apodaca, T. R., Yurasek, A., & Monti, P. M. (2017). Does mental status impact therapist and patient communication in emergency department brief interventions addressing alcohol use? Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, 73, 1–8.
• Drymalski, W. M., & Nunley, M. R. (2016). The use of the addiction severity index psychiatric composite scores to predict psychiatric inpatient admissions. Journal of Addictions Nursing, 27(3), 190–196.
• Lundgren, L., Wilkey, C., Chassler, D., Sandlund, M., Armelius, B., Armelius, K., & Brännström, J. (2014). Integrating addiction and mental health treatment within a national addiction treatment system: Using multiple statistical methods to analyze client and interviewer assessment of co-occurring mental health problems. Nordic Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 31(1), 59–79.
Assessments that are designed to accurately diagnose the presence of substance use disorders must also consider the client’s mental health in order to develop the most appropriate treatment plan. There are additional assessment tools that provide supplemental information about the client’s mental health and can be added to the main substance abuse assessment.
1. For this discussion, locate a screening or assessment tool that measures current mental health symptoms that can be added as supplemental information to the primary assessment. Discuss the instrument and provide the following:
a. Name of instrument.
b. Why did you choose the instrument?
c. What information is collected from the client when using this information?
d. How will this instrument compliment the primary assessment for substance use disorders?
Response Guidelines
2. Respond to the main discussion posts of two learners. What reactions do you have to the chosen instrument? Include examples from the course readings, scholarly literature, and practical experiences to support your perspective, and raise questions to continue the discussion.
Peer 1- There are various assessments that are useful when attempting to diagnose a patient for mental health symptoms. These assessments may relate to cognitive functioning, personality traits or psychological issues. Depending on the patient, these assessments are designed to meet their specific needs. Screening tests such as the DAST or Drug Abuse Screening Test and the ASSIST or Alcohol, Smoking, and Substance Involvement Screening Test are beneficial as they are able to screen for certain conditions, however, there are certain instruments that are more suitable when it comes to providing supplemental information.
One assessment that can be added as supplemental information is the GAIN or Global Appraisal of Individual Needs Assessment. This assessment was chosen because it has been proven to have good validity and reliability. It also measures the frequency of problems related to substance abuse which includes diagnosis, treatment motivation and the potential for relapse (Sprong-Davis., 2018). Information collected from GAIN assessment include Internalizing Disorders, Externalizing Disorders, violence or crime, and Substance Use Disorders in a series of 23 questions used to measure change within a certain timeframe. This will compliment the primary assessment by providing more detailed, specific information in the hopes of a more accurate diagnosis.
Reference:
Sprong-Davis. (2018). Capella University – The Substance Related Disorder Assessment: A Road Map to Effective Treatment Planning. [Capella]. Retrieved from https://capella.vitalsource.com/#/books/9781524976675/
Peer 2- I chose the GAF scale test. “The Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) is a scoring system that mental health professionals use to assess how well an individual is functioning in their daily lives. This scale was once used to measure the impact of psychiatric illness on a person’s life and daily functional skills and abilities.” (Healthline) This assessment is a tool that provided the worker with information on how the client gets through their day to day. How do they do with various situations and where do they struggle? I chose it because it’s a great tool to help determine the level of care, as well as a great tool to help with developing goals. I would be beneficial to a main assessment to give it further detail into daily living situation and function not just simply the diagnosis and or symptoms. It should be paired with other or multiple assessments. “There are two main categories of consideration. The first is a person’s level of functioning in daily life. The second is the severity of their mental illness. Doctors can determine a person’s GAF score using several items of information, including:
• talking to the person
• interviewing the person’s family members or caretakers
• reviewing the person’s medical records
• reviewing a person’s police or court records detailing their behavioral history” (Healthline)
