Measuring the Effectiveness of Substance Abuse Treatment

Building systematic knowledge about the treatment of alcoholism and substance abuse is constrained by the scarcity of refined measurement instruments that have been developed from a base in theory. A five dimensional index was constructed from a basic set of characteristics of substance abuse problems. Preliminary field testin with 51 clients at three stages of treatment revealed strong reliability estimates as well as evidence of construct and differential validity. Further refinements and uses in program evaluation and knowledge building are discussed.