Pm. Arenth et al., The utility of the Substance Abuse Subtle Screening Inventory-3 for use with individuals with brain injury, BRAIN INJUR, 15(6), 2001, pp. 499-510
The utility of the Substance Abuse Subtle Screening Inventory (SASSI-3) for
the use with individuals with traumatic brain injuries (TBI) was investiga
ted. The SASSI-3 was administered to 78 subjects prior to discharge from in
patient rehabilitation. The SASSI-3 diagnosis of chemical dependency was co
mpared with the diagnosis of staff psychologists. Lower accuracy, sensitivi
ty, and specificity were found in SASSI-3 diagnosis for the subjects with b
rain injury, as compared to a normative sample of persons with disabilities
participating in a vocational rehabilitation programme. When a diagnosis o
f 'dependence or abuse' was used, accuracy of the SASSI-3 increased. Compar
ison of diagnosis based on SASSI-3 versus Blood Alcohol Level (BAL) at the
time of injury showed comparable accuracy; however, BAL was found to have h
igher specificity. For dependence or abuse, BAL continued to be more specif
ic than the SASSI-3; however, the SASSI-3 was more sensitive. Based on thes
e findings, a clinical approach to screening using both BAL and the SASSI-3
is discussed.