RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY OF THE COCAINE SELECTIVE SEVERITY ASSESSMENT

This article assesses the reliability and validity of the Cocaine Sele ctive Severity Assessment (CSSA), a measure of cocaine abstinence sign s and symptoms. Interrater reliability and scale internal consistency were high. Initial CSSA scores were significantly higher in cocaine-de pendent subjects than in alcohol-dependent subjects. Initial CSSA scor es were highly correlated with recent cocaine use and with severity me asures from the Addiction Severity Index (ASI) including the interview er severity rating and composite score in the drug section. Among coca ine-dependent subjects, initial CSSA scores were higher for those who failed to achieve abstinence or who subsequently dropped out of treatm ent. Further, CSSA scores showed consistent and marked declines over t ime for subjects who continued in treatment and remained abstinent. Th e CSSA appears to be a reliable and valid measure of cocaine abstinenc e symptoms and a useful predictor of negative outcomes in cocaine depe ndence treatment. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd.