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Assessment measures exercise – additional information DDUS

This exercise includes three validated measures relating to alcohol consumption and harm.
You will see that the individual items within each questionnaire relate to the constructs of
addiction as set out in both the DSM criteria and the definitions we discussed in the session.

The three measures have different clinical utility – in other words they are designed for
different levels of risk in different populations. This is illustrated well by comparing 1 and 3 –
there would clearly be little point in attempting to use questionnaire 3 with a general
population.

Questionnaire 1: AUDIT (Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test)

(Babor, T. F., de la Fuente, J. R., Saunders, J., & Grant, M. (1989). AUDIT: The Alcohol Use
Disorders Identification Test: Guidelines for use in primary health care. Geneva, Switzerland:
World Health Organization).

This is a general population level screening tool that was developed by the World Health
Organisation for identifying hazardous, harmful and dependent drinking depending on the
score. It has been widely validated in many languages and different demographics, including
young adults. As a general screening tool it is very useful in primary care and any other
setting where people are not presenting for an alcohol related problem.

Scoring
Questions 1-8: 0-1-2-3-4.
Questions 9 and 10: 0-2-4.

Interpreting total scores

0-7 no real risk
8 -15: hazardous drinking patterns with increasing risk
16-19: indicative of harmful consumption levels
20+: possible indicators of dependence

Questionnaire 2: the LDQ (Leeds Dependence Questionnaire)

(Raistrick, Bradshaw, Tober, Weiner, Allison, & Healy; Development of the Leeds
Dependence Questionnaire. Addiction (1994) 89, 563-572

This is an assessment tool designed to measure dependence in populations seeking

help/treatment. It is useful for mild to moderate dependence in particular. It measures
physical symptoms (e.g. tolerance, withdrawal) translated into psychological/behavioural
terms. It is well validated, and can measure change over a relatively short period of time. It
is useful for clinicians and researchers.

Scoring
All items are scored: 0-1-2-3
Any score on this measure should lead to some concerns of possible dependence indicators.
20+ indicates severe dependence
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Questionnaire 3: The SADQ (Severity of Alcohol Dependence Questionnaire) DDUS
(Stockwell T, Hodgson R, Edwards G, Taylor C, Rankin H. The development of a
questionnaire to measure severity of alcohol dependence. Br J Addict Alcohol Other Drugs.
1979; 74(1):79-87.

Used where alcohol dependence has been identified, the SADQ was designed to measure
severity of dependence on alcohol. The items measure severe physical and psychological
symptoms of dependence and it is mostly used with clinical populations in addiction
treatment services.
The SADQ questions cover the following aspects of dependency:
· physical withdrawal symptoms
· affective withdrawal symptoms
· relief drinking
· frequency of alcohol consumption
· speed of onset of withdrawal symptoms.
Scoring
Answers to each question are rated: 0-1-2-3-4:
A score of 31 or higher indicates "severe alcohol dependence".
A score of 16 -30 indicates "moderate dependence"
A score of below 16 usually indicates only a mild physical dependency