Substance Abuse Assessment
Use when asked to administer, score, or explain a Substance Abuse Assessment — combined AUDIT (alcohol) and DAST-10 (drug) evaluation — grounded in FormExamples/form-examples.
Substance use disorder evaluation using AUDIT (Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test) and DAST-10 (Drug Abuse Screening Test), with comprehensive biopsychosocial assessment.
Scoring
Instruments: AUDIT (0–40) + DAST-10 (0–10).
- AUDIT: Low risk (0–7), Hazardous (8–15), Harmful (16–19), Dependence likely (20–40).
- DAST-10: No problems (0), Low level (1–2), Moderate level (3–5), Substantial level (6–8), Severe level (9–10).
- Combined severity: Low, Moderate, High, Critical (active withdrawal/overdose risk).
What it covers
Demographics; alcohol use (AUDIT); drug use (DAST-10); substance use history; withdrawal assessment; mental health comorbidities; physical health impact; social and legal impact; previous treatment history; and treatment planning and goals.
Common pitfalls
- Screening for alcohol or drugs but not both — the two instruments are paired deliberately since polysubstance use is common; screening for only one can miss a significant part of the clinical picture.
- Underestimating withdrawal risk — the critical-severity category explicitly flags active withdrawal/overdose risk; this needs proactive screening (not just waiting for symptoms to appear), since some withdrawal syndromes (alcohol, benzodiazepines) can be medically dangerous.
- Treating a "Low risk" AUDIT/DAST score as closing the topic permanently — substance use patterns change; periodic re-screening, not a one-time assessment, is appropriate especially where risk factors are ongoing.
Learn more
- FormExamples: substance-abuse-assessment for the full implementation, clinical references, and worked examples.
- Mental Health Assessment, Post Traumatic Stress Assessment for related mental-health assessments with common comorbidity.