[A validation of the applicability of the Severity of Dependence Scale (SDS) in a nationwide mental hospital survey on substance-related psychiatric disorders].
We studied the applicability of the Severity of Dependence Scale (SDS) in a nationwide mental hospital survey on substance-related psychiatric disorders in 2002. The SDS is an easily administered five-item scale used to assess psychological dependence, especially the compulsive use of a wide range of substances. The SDS was translated into Japanese (SDS-J) and administered as a part of a questionnaire to 114 patients with substance-dependence syndrome in the survey. The SDS-J had a good internal consistency as demonstrated by the high Cronbach's alpha (0.76). Principal component analyses (PCA) with varimax rotation on the five items revealed a single-factor solution that accounted for 50.8% of the variance. Pearson's correlation coefficient between each item and total score ranged from 0.68 to 0.76, all of which were significant (p<.01). The total score of the SDS-J and the total number of items and psychological dependence-related items in the diagnostic guideline of dependence syndrome of the ICD-10 had rather low Pearson's correlation coefficients (0.17 and 0.23), but those correlations were significant (p < .05 and p < .01). The PCA for the patients with methamphetamine dependence also revealed a single-factor solution that accounted for 55.0% of the total variance. The results indicate that the SDS-J has satisfactory internal and structural reliability and external criteria validity. It also suggests that the SDS-J might be useful for assessing dependence syndrome in clinical settings in Japan, where those substances having properties of causing particularly severe psychological dependence, such as methamphetamine and solvents, are the most common substances of abuse.
Ozaki
Shigeru
S
Department of Drug Dependence Research, National Institute of Mental Health, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, 4-1-1 Ogawa-Higashi, Kodaira, Tokyo 187-8502, Japan.
Wada
Kiyoshi
K
D000328:Adult; D003625:Data Collection; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D008694:Methamphetamine; D011605:Psychoses, Substance-Induced / Q000175:diagnosis*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index
D008694:Methamphetamine