TPC-Journal-V6-Issue2

The Professional Counselor /Volume 6, Issue 2 122 are similar to items found on the Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test (MAST; Selzer, 1971) and the CAGE (Ewing, 1984). The SASSI-3 is interpreted using nine decision rules. The first five decision rules are based solely on the unique contributions of individual scales. The remaining four decision rules involve a combination of two or more scales. A decision rule is coded “yes” if the associated SASSI-3 scale or scales’ raw score is equal to or greater than the decision rule’s cut score. Otherwise, the decision rule is coded as “no.” The respondent is determined to have a “high probability of having a substance dependence disorder” if any of the decision rules are met (Miller & Lazowski, 1999, p. 10). Not only does the SASSI-3 do a better job of identifying alcohol use disorders than the MAST, CAGE and MAC-R (Laux, Perera-Diltz, Smirnoff, & Salyers, 2005; Laux, Salyers, & Kotova, 2005), it provides the added benefit of screening for drug use other than alcohol. The most recent inquiry into substance use screens indicated that the SASSI-3 is the substance use screen most frequently used by Master Addictions Counselors certified by the National Board for Certified Counselors (Juhnke, Vacc, Curtis, Coll, & Paredes, 2003). The SASSI-3 Manual (Miller & Lazowski, 1999) reported a sensitivity (true positive) rate of 94.6% and specificity (true negative) rate of 93.2%. Subsequent field research produced results consistent with the psychometric claims made in the SASSI-3 Manual (Burck, Laux, Harper, & Ritchie, 2010; Burck, Laux, Ritchie, & Baker, 2008; Calmes et al., 2013; Hill, Stone, & Laux, 2013; Laux, Perera-Diltz, Smirnoff, & Salyers, 2005; Laux, Salyers, & Bandfield, 2007; Laux, Salyers, & Kotova, 2005; Wright, Piazza, & Laux, 2008). Further, Laux et al. (2012) demonstrated that the SASSI-3’s empirical items and associated decision rules increased the instrument’s screening accuracy. In addition, persons’ willingness and ability to self-report having a substance use disorder as described in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Text Revision ( DSM-IV-TR ; American Psychiatric Association [APA], 2000) did not negatively affect the instrument’s sensitivity. Laux et al. (2012) found that the SASSI-3 produced high sensitivity rates across varying levels of motivation to change among persons who lost parental rights due to substance use. APA published the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders ( DSM-5 ) in 2013. This most current version of the DSM brought forward major and important changes to the way the substance use disorder (SUD) chapter is conceptualized (Dailey, Gill, Karl, & Barrio Minton, 2014). Notably, the former dichotomous substance abuse and substance dependence categories have been removed and replaced with a continuum under the heading of “Substance Use Disorders” (APA, 2013, p. 483). The criterion formerly associated with the substance abuse and substance dependence disorders have been merged onto one continuum, to which craving has been added. Clients are determined to have a mild SUD if two or three criteria are met, a moderate SUD when four to five symptoms are met, and a severe SUD when six or more symptoms are endorsed. Because previous versions of the DSM criteria were frequently used as the gold standard against which SUD screens were compared (Ashman, Schwartz, Cantor, Hibbard, & Gordon, 2004; Lazowski, Miller, Boye, & Miller, 1998), it is of interest to investigate the degree to which the SASSI-3 accurately predicts the new DSM-5 substance use diagnostic criteria. Our literature review produced two examples of empirical comparison between the SASSI-3, or its predecessors, and DSM criteria. The first (Lazowski et al., 1998) reported on the standardization efforts that produced the instrument’s third version. This research team used the data from persons whose case files had a DSM-III-R (APA, 1987) or a DSM-IV (APA, 1994) substance use diagnosis and an administration of the SASSI-3. How the participants were diagnosed was not specified. The results of this investigation found that the SASSI-3’s overall accuracy rating was 97%, the sensitivity rating was 97% and the specificity rating was 95%. A second study (Ashman et al., 2004) sought to determine the SASSI-3’s ability to screen for