title: The Minnesota Substance Abuse Problems Scale. Psychometric analysis and validation in a clinical population.
abstract: The authors determined interrelationships among 61 items in a scale designed to assess the severity of substance-related disorder (SRD) and develop subscales that measure distinct substance-related areas of dysfunction. They evaluated 642 outpatients with items previously developed among patients with SRDs. Trained interviewers administered the Minnesota Substance Abuse Problem Scales (M-SAPS), which uses responses to yes/no (lifetime) questions. A factor analysis of items was compared with data from patients and addiction psychiatrists to measure the concurrent validity of the M-SAPS factors, yielding 37 items in three factors: Psychiatric-Behavioral Problems (14 items), Social-Interpersonal Problems (11 items), and Addiction-Dependence Symptoms (12 items). These three scales correlate with 10 scales/assessments concurrently collected independently of the M-SAPS, yielding a brief, valid, interviewer-administered, substance-related problem scale that assesses SRD severity in three distinct areas.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis 55455, USA.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Westermeyer
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Crosby
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nugent
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D000431:Ethanol; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011581:Psychological Tests; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*
chemical_list: D000431:Ethanol