title: Verification of the addiction severity index Japanese version (ASI-J) as a treatment-customization, prediction, and comparison tool for alcohol-dependent individuals.
abstract: To demonstrate the usefulness of the Addiction Severity Index Japanese Version (ASI-J) in Japanese alcohol-dependent individuals. The ASI is a frequently used clinical and research instrument that measures severities in seven functional domains in people with substance abuse disorders.
  
  
  
  A total of 370 male inpatients with a history of alcohol dependence participated in the study. Forty-nine participants were excluded in the final analysis due to lack of reliability (i.e., patient misrepresentation or inability to understand). We used the ASI-J and a series of indexes that determined patient states during and post-treatment.
  
  
  
  The correlations between ASI Composite Scores (CSs), which were calculated through a weighted formula and indicated the severity of each problem area, were significant but low in eight relations and not significant in 13 relations, indicating substantial independence of the problem areas. Significant differences were found in Family/Social CSs between abstinent and relapsed alcohol-dependent individuals. The questions of undesirable attitude were significantly related to the CSs of Employment, Drug use, Family/Social, and Psychiatric sections. Significant differences were observed in patient demographics, CS, and ASI Severity Rating (SR) and interviewer's subjective scoring between alcohol-dependent individuals and drug abusers. CSs in Japanese alcohol-dependent individuals were generally similar to corresponding CSs in individuals from other countries, with the exception of The Netherlands.
  
  
  
  This study demonstrated that the ASI-J is useful for understanding individual profiles of problems for each patient and planning customized treatment. The ASI-J served as a predictive tool for relapse and compliance to treatment afterward and was shown to be useful as a comparison tool in clarifying similarities and differences between substance abuser groups.
authors.affiliation: Division of Psychobiology, Tokyo Institute of Psychiatry, Tokyo 156-8585, Japan. haragu-a@prit.go.jp
authors.forename: Ayako
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Haraguchi
authors.forename: Yasukazu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ogai
authors.forename: Eiichi
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Senoo
authors.forename: Satoru
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Saito
authors.forename: Yoshihiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.forename: Aihide
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yoshino
authors.forename: Aro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ino
authors.forename: Kenji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yanbe
authors.forename: Mitsuru
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hasegawa
authors.forename: Masaru
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Murakami
authors.forename: Masanobu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Murayama
authors.forename: Toru
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ishikawa
authors.forename: Susumu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Higuchi
authors.forename: Kazutaka
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ikeda
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000175:diagnosis*; D044466:Asian People; D001294:Attitude to Health; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D055815:Young Adult