These expert sources each have selected instruments for use in research and clinical work. We use their selections, along with other references, to identify instruments receiving a "gold star," to indicate instruments with proven research validity and clinical utility.

• APA: Instruments included in the American Psychiatric Association (APA) Handbook of Psychiatric Measures. Washington DC: American Psychiatric Association, 2001.




• EIB: The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction's Evaluation Instrument Bank. http://eib.emcdda.eu.int/




• CAMH: Instruments included in Directory of Client Outcome Measures for Addictions Treatment Programs by the Centre for Addiction & Mental Health (CAMH), formerly the Addiction Research Foundation. Toronto, Ontario: Addiction Research Foundation, 1994.




• METRIC: Measurement Excellence and Training Resource Information Center -- This web site is a project of the Veterans Administration enter for Quality of Care and Utilization Studies. It contains detailed information about numerous measures, particularly those used in VA research. The site includes a section on the fundamentals of measurement theories, terms and topics, and the use of measurements in practice. Please note: this center was defunded in 2006 and its web site has been removed.




• NFATTC: Instruments included in the Northwest Frontier Addiction Technology Transfer Center's Substance Abuse Screening and Assessment Instruments for Adolescents. Mary Anne Bryan (ed.). Salem, OR: NFATTC, August 2001. [Download PDF | View NFATTC website]




• NIAAA: Instruments included in the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism's (NIAAA) book, Assessing Alcohol Problems: A Guide for Clinicians and Researchers. http://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/Assesing%20Alcohol/index.htm




• NIDA CTN CAB: Instruments selected by the National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network for inclusion in their Common Assessment Battery.




• NIDA SI: Instruments included in the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) book Assessing Drug Abuse among Adolescents and Adults: Standardized Instruments. Rockville, MD : National Institute on Drug Abuse, Community and Professional Education Branch, 1994.




• TIPS: CSAT's Treatment Improvement Protocols. Included as sources in the Instrument database are numbers 16, 21, 24, 28, 31, 35, 40, and 42. http://www.treatment.org/Externals/tips.html




• WHO: Standardized instruments used or developed by the World Health Organization, including the ASSIST and others: http://www.who.int/substance_abuse/research_tools/en




• VA-CHCE: The VA Center for Health Care Evaluation has has developed a series of measures for use by researchers, several of which specifically address substance use disorders. http://www.chce.research.va.gov/measures.asp