title: The utility of the Substance Abuse Subtle Screening Inventory-3 for use with individuals with brain injury.
abstract: The utility of the Substance Abuse Subtle Screening Inventory (SASSI-3) for the use with individuals with traumatic brain injuries (TBI) was investigated. The SASSI-3 was administered to 78 subjects prior to discharge from inpatient rehabilitation. The SASSI-3 diagnosis of chemical dependency was compared with the diagnosis of staff psychologists. Lower accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity were found in SASSI-3 diagnosis for the subjects with brain injury, as compared to a normative sample of persons with disabilities participating in a vocational rehabilitation programme. When a diagnosis of 'dependence or abuse' was used, accuracy of the SASSI-3 increased. Comparison of diagnosis based on SASSI-3 versus Blood Alcohol Level (BAL) at the time of injury showed comparable accuracy; however, BAL was found to have higher specificity. For dependence or abuse, BAL continued to be more specific than the SASSI-3; however, the SASSI-3 was more sensitive. Based on these findings, a clinical approach to screening using both BAL and the SASSI-3 is discussed.
authors.affiliation: The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA.
authors.forename: P M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Arenth
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Bogner
authors.forename: J D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Corrigan
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Schmidt
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000150:complications*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D015813:Substance Abuse Detection / Q000379:methods*; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology