Euro Adolescent Drug Abuse Diagnosis (Euro-ADAD)

Author/Developer / Address:

Authors Euro-ADAD: Alfred S. Friedman, Ph.D., and Arlene Terras (Utada), M.Ed. and David Ôberg.

Translation to Swedish has been undertaken by Sallmen b., Bergman h., Gruntman m., Nyström s., Stenbacka m., Waitong n., Öberg d.

Translation to Dutch has been undertaken by Haack, MJ., Soyez, V. & Roozendaal, R. .

For questions about the English, Dutch and Swedish versions of Euro-ADAD please contact:

Marie-Jeanne Haack

For questions about the Hungarian version of the Euro ADAD  please contact:

József Gerevich

Publication dates:

2001

Description / Type of Assessment:

ADAD is a 150-item instrument for structured interviewer administration that produces a comprehensive evaluation of the clients and provides a 10-point severity rating for each of 9 life problem areas. Composite scores to measure client behavioural change in each life problem area, during and after treatment, can be calculated. Only 83 items of the 150 ADAD items are used for measuring change, for post-test, follow-up tracking in an evaluation of clients after treatment and for the evaluation of treatment outcome. These 83 items are circled on the ADAD form. A computerized version for administration of ADAD, which has been developed by the Target Cities Research Project at the University of Akron in Akron, Ohio, is now available on disk. This software version of ADAD provides a narrative summary of the data collected from each individual client that is intended to facilitate report writing and treatment planning.

Primary use / Purpose:

ADAD was designed to assess substance use and other life problems, to assist with treatment planning, and to assess changes in life problem areas and severity over time.

Domains measured / Life Areas / Problems Assessed:

Medical
School
Employment
Social relations
Family and background relationships
Psychological
Legal
Alcohol use
Drug use

Population:

Adolescents.

Administration / Completion Time:

45-55 minutes.

Scoring Procedures:

Each life problem area is scored for problem severity on a 10-point scale. Collectively, these scores are referred to as the Interviewer Severity Ratings and comprise a comprehensive adolescent life problem profile.
The interviewer's ratings usually reflect the judgment of the severity of the problems based on the historical perspective of the client's behavior and life conditions over a period of time that is longer than the most recent 30-day period covered by the items that are included in the formulas for deriving the composite scores.
Mathematically derived composite scores (based on a formula for weighting selected item scores) can be used to assess changes in problem severity over time. These scores are independent of both the interviewer's clinical judgment of the "severity" of each life problem area, as well as the adolescent client's problem severity and treatment need self-ratings.

Scoring Time:

Less than 10 minutes.

Credentials/Training:

A 1-day training session is recommended. As an alternate minimal training method, a training videotape is available at a cost of $25.00. Technical assistance for this training procedure is available at no cost by telephone.
The videotape shows an actual ADAD interview which can be used as (1) a simple model for the administration of the instrument, and (2) a means of developing proficiency with assigning severity ratings (by comparing the trainee's severity ratings with those of the trainer).

Languages:

English, Hungarian, Dutch, Swedish,

Availability / Inquiries:

Alfred S. Friedman, Ph.D., and Arlene Terras, M.Ed. See address above

Practicability / usefulness:

ADAD can be used to assess substance use and other life problems, to assist with treatment planning, and to assess changes in life problem areas and severity over time.
ADAD produces a comprehensive evaluation of the client and provides a 10-point severity rating for each of nine life problem areas. Composite scores to measure client behavioral change in each problem area during and after treatment can be calculated. Only 83 items of the 150 ADAD items are used for measuring change: posttest, followup tracking in an evaluation of clients after treatment, and evaluation of treatment outcome. These 83 items are circled on the ADAD form.
Although ADAD was originally developed for use with adolescents in substance use disorder treatment settings, it has proved useful as a general assessment tool for adolescents in school settings, youth social service agencies, mental health facilities, and facilities and programs within the criminal justice system.

Comments:

A special feature of ADAD is three problem checklists in the medical, school, and family sections. These lists, which require only a yes or no response from the adolescent, enable the interviewer to gather a considerable amount of information from the youth in an easy and efficient manner. The items on the problem checklists were selected from longer lists of items of an open-ended instrument that had been administered to several different populations of adolescent substance users. The items that were found to predict treatment outcome to the most significant degree were selected for inclusion in the ADAD.