Focus area: Substance use

Overview: The World Health Organization (WHO) Alcohol, Smoking and Substance Involvement Screening Test (ASSIST) is a questionnaire that screens for all levels of problem or risky substance use in adults. The ASSIST consists of eight questions covering tobacco, alcohol, cannabis, cocaine, amphetamine-type stimulants (including ecstasy) inhalants, sedatives, hallucinogens, opioids and 'other drugs'. The ASSIST is especially designed for use by health care workers in a range of health care settings. It may also be useful for professionals who work with people with high risk of problems related to substance use.

Total number of items: Eight

Administration: Self-report

Standardized cadence: Three months

Estimated completion time: Five minutes

Supported subscales: None

Age range: 18+

Scoring and interpretation: A risk score is provided for each substance, and scores are grouped into 'low risk', 'moderate risk' or 'high risk'. The risk score determines the level of intervention recommended (brief intervention or brief intervention plus referral to specialist treatment).

Reliability/Validity: Test - retest Kappa coefficients of agreement (K-values) were calculated for each question stem and drug category. K-levels ranged from 0.58 to 0.90 for question stems and from 0.61 (sedatives) to 0.78 (opioids) for substance categories. K-levels greater than 0.4 are considered moderate, while levels above 0.6 are considered substantial. Test - retest reliability of the ASSIST questions is, therefore, substantial. Regarding convergent validity, scores on the ASSIST were significantly correlated with other measures of problematic substance use including the MINI-Plus (r=0.76, p<0.01) and the Addiction Severity Index(r=0.84, p><0.01).

Additional information: For detailed information about the ASSIST measure, visit https://www.who.int/substance_abuse/activities/en/Draft_The_ASSIST_Guidelines.pdf