Deck 28: The Assessment of Suspected Substance Use Disorders

Question 1

One of the problems of the SASSI-3 is that it

A)provides a detailed list of substances that the individual has abused in the past.
B)does not identify binge drinking in young adult males.
C)does not identify which substances are possibly being abused.
D)focuses more on drugs of abuse rather than alcohol use disorders.

Answer 1

does not identify which substances are possibly being abused.

Question 2

In contrast to the screening phase, during the assessment phase the individual conducting the assessment is attempting to

A)assign responsibility for the individual's substance use disorder on to those who hurt the client emotionally.
B)identify the severity of the client's SUD.
C)identify socioeconomic forces that contributed to the development of the client's SUD.
D)develop a time sequence for the victimization of the substance abusing individual.

Answer 2

identify the severity of the client's SUD.

Question 3

The Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) is effective in identifying people with an alcohol use disorder.

A)70%
B)100%
C)50%
D)90%

Answer 3

90%

Question 4

Which of the following is NOT an example of collateral information that may be important to collect during a client assessment?

A)Information from family members
B)Past treatment records
C)Court documents
D)A client's answers in a clinical interview

Question 5

You are an addictions counselor in private practice.You have referred a client to an intensive treatment program based on his history of binge drinking, as a person with an alcohol dependence problem.The client's pastor calls to challenge your recommendation on the grounds that the individual in question had a low score on the Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test (MAST).Your best response would be

A)the pastor has no right to become involved in a substance use assessment.
B)the MAST is relatively insensitive to binge drinking patterns.
C)the client probably has been honest with the pastor about his or her drinking pattern, so the pastor's concerns are well placed.
D)the pastor should complete a separate, comprehensive, substance use assessment.

Question 6

A business owner calls you about an employee who failed a worksite urine drug toxicology test.The person is addicted to drugs and the employer wants the employee to be sent to a rehabilitation center.Your most appropriate response would be to

A)help them find a rehabilitation center close to where the employee lives.
B)assume the employee is addicted.
C)suggest the need for a complete substance use assessment.
D)refer the individual to an outpatient drug and alcohol counselor you know.

Question 7

Jerry is a substance abuse counselor working with a client, Ned.Through completing a thorough assessment, Jerry has discovered that Ned has developed tolerance to cocaine, is preoccupied with using cocaine, has come to work high on cocaine, and continues to use cocaine despite his desire to quit, often to ward off symptoms of withdrawal. Based on this information, Jerry

A)has sufficient information to diagnosis Ned with an SUD.
B)should perform a drug test on Ned.
C)should perform the DAST screening on Ned.
D)should immediately get Ned into inpatient drug treatment.

Question 8

A score of five points on the DAST would

A)be below the cut-off score necessary to suggest a substance use disorder on this instrument.
B)be sufficiently high to suggest a substance use disorder on this instrument.
C)suggest substance abuse, but not substance dependence.
D)reflect extreme denial on this instrument since a score of five points has been engineered to be a lie detection score suggestive of attempts at deception.

Question 9

A client reports spending "only $100" a week on alcohol, but becomes indignant when you report that this is over $5,000 a year for alcohol.This is an example of

A)disengagement.
B)denial.
C)attempt to rationalize.
D)mindfulness.

Question 10

After Jerry, a substance abuse counselor, has diagnosed his client Ned with a substance use disorder that centers on cocaine misuse, what additional information might Jerry want to get to inform the treatment plan?

A)Where Ned gets his cocaine
B)The current level of cocaine in Ned's system
C)Ned's motivation for seeking an assessment
D)Whether Ned is going to pay for treatment or if he has insurance

Question 11

The assessor, while functioning as a "gatekeeper" for the admissions process,

A)must identify which insurance company benefit package will pay for treatment.
B)gathers the information to justify a specific level of treatment interventions.
C)essentially operates on the assumption that everybody has an SUD until proven otherwise.
D)works as an extension of the law enforcement agencies, helping to identify those likely to drive under the influence of chemicals in the future.

Question 12

The core of the assessment process is

A)having the client complete the SASSI.
B)asking the CAGE questions.
C)a clinical interview.
D)performing the TWEAK.

Question 13

According to your text, the two-question screening instrument designed by Brown and colleagues (1997)

A)is at best able to identify 80% or more of substance abusers.
B)is able to identify substance abusers with 95% accuracy if the client answers honestly.
C)avoids the problem of confusion over binge substance use and addiction.
D)identifies those people who have a compulsion to use chemicals.

Question 14

A person who has been found to have a "dirty" urine toxicology test for the first time a substance addiction.

A)possibly has
B)definitely has
C)cannot possibly have (since it is only his or her first time)
D)and has a high blood alcohol level has

Question 15

One major disadvantage of self-report screening inventories is that these are

A)expensive and labor intensive.
B)inexpensive but labor intensive.
C)vulnerable to attempts at deception.
D)more threatening to the client than face-to-face interviews.

Question 16

The MacAndrew Alcoholism Scale of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory could best be described as

A)being a useful, if rather lengthy, screening tool.
B)best able to identify personality patterns commonly associated with substance use disorders.
C)being 95% accurate in its ability to identify persons with an SUD if they answer the questions honestly.
D)being able to identify introverted persons as having a greater chance of having an SUD.

Question 17

According to your text, which of the following is NOT one of the roles the assessment process plays?

A)Forms the foundation of the rehabilitation process
B)Helps put the drug abuser in jail
C)Helps identify those individuals who require professional assistance with their SUDs
D)Serves as gatekeeper, providing justification for the proper level of treatment and identifying the individual's strengths and weaknesses

Question 18

The term "addiction"

A)is clearly defined in the current edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.
B)is still not clearly defined.
C)is applied only to substance use disorders.
D)automatically indicates the need for rehabilitation.

Question 19

One drawback of the AUDIT is that it

A)was normed on a representative sample of individuals only in the United States.
B)is relatively insensitive to active drinkers over the age of 65.
C)tends to have a high number of "false positive" cases in persons over the age of 65.
D)was designed mainly to be used to screen individuals over the age of 65.

Question 20

The CAGE tends to be best for identifying which group of people with an alcohol use disorder?

A)Children
B)Women
C)Men
D)Minorities

Question 21

An important rule for assessing and diagnosing an individual is to always assume deception unless proven otherwise.

Question 22

Select two standardized tests discussed in your text and describe their characteristics.

Question 23

Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of paper-and-pencil screening instruments.

Question 24

What are some of the pitfalls that may influence an inexperienced clinician in his or her process of conducting a screening, assessment, and diagnosis of a client's potential substance use disorder?

Question 25

What are the types of "response sets" that might distort the assessor's opinions of the client's SUD? What are ways to mitigate these?

Question 26

Describe the various roles the process of assessment plays regarding SUDs.

Question 27

When making a diagnosis of a substance use disorder, the client's motivation for seeking treatment services is considered irrelevant and inconsequential.

Question 28

One way for many substance abusers to avoid acknowledging that their substance use patterns are interfering with their ability to hold a regular job is to remain self-employed.

Question 29

It is important to diagnose an individual based solely on the results of his or her SUDs screening to eliminate any potential influence of assessor bias.

Question 30

A client presents after conviction for his or her second "drunk driving" conviction.During the assessment process, he or she also reveals he or she had a disciplinary action while in the military for driving a vehicle on base while intoxicated.This would not be counted as a third "drunk driving" conviction because it did not appear on his or her civilian driving record.