Using clinical tools for assessing patients and treatment outcomes for Substance Use Disorders

Introduction: Having tools to assess the outcomes of treatment in patients with substance use disorders is highly important. Objective: To review the last 10 years of scientific literature related to the validation and use of instruments or other performance measures in treatment evaluation. Materials and methods: A search of scientific papers, published between 2005 and 2015, addressing measurement instruments for substance use disorders and effectiveness of treatments was performed. The MEDLINE database was used and the search was limited to titles, abstracts and full texts available. Results: 21 instrument validation studies, 14 performance evaluations using instruments, 5 narrative reviews and 2 systematic reviews were selected. Conclusions: The found instruments explore different areas depending on the type of treatment and proposed objectives; however, there is not a unique test to fully assess the results of treatment due to the complexity of the topic. It is recommended to continue the development and validation of specific tools for complex treatments in institutions working with comprehensive therapeutic models.