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Dissertation
Developing a substance use screening instrument: the juvenile offender substance abuse screen
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Drexel University
Oct 2006
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17918/etd-1230
Abstract
Substance use/abuse among juvenile justice youth is alarmingly high. Data from several studies suggest that the prevalence of diagnosable substance use disorders for this population ranges from 19 to 67% (CSAT, 1999). Furthermore, research suggests that substance abuse and delinquent offenses are highly correlated. Given the high prevalence rates of substance use in juvenile justice youth and the limited resources of juvenile justice facilities, a substance abuse screening instrument should help identify those delinquent youth most in need of additional assessment to plan for intensive treatment services. The purpose of this project was to develop, norm, and evaluate a brief screening tool designed for male and female juvenile offenders between the ages of 13 and 18. Instrument development activities included feedback from experts, focus groups with juvenile justice youth and professionals, as well as a pilot study to further refine the instrument. One hundred and four juvenile justice youth at a juvenile justice facility in Pennsylvania participated in the full-scale study. Data were collected at two time points to assess the factor structure of the instrument, concurrent validity test-retest reliability and other psychometric properties. Findings revealed a three-factor solution referring to diagnostic criteria, risk factors, and emotions/cognitions. Seven items from the original instrument were removed due to poor factor loading, resulting in a thirteen item instrument. Internal consistency appeared good for the total sample and male subsample. Test-retest reliability suggested that the instrument was stable across time. As expected the JJ-SAS over-identified youth with substance abuse problems. However, findings suggest that the JJ-SAS had approximately 65% agreement for true positives and true negatives for each drug type, based on C-DISC diagnosis. In addition, tobacco and substance use provided few false negatives, suggesting that the JJ-SAS categories were consistent with C-DISC diagnoses. In addition, findings suggest that the JJ-SAS had good sensitivity and fair specificity. Replication of these findings will impact youth involved with the juvenile justice system who are in need of early substance abuse identification and treatment by providing a quick, cost-effective, and empirically supported screening tool.
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Details
- Title
- Developing a substance use screening instrument
- Creators
- Jennifer Mindy Weil - DU
- Contributors
- Naomi E. Goldstein (Advisor) - Drexel University (1970-)
- Awarding Institution
- Drexel University
- Degree Awarded
- Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
- Publisher
- Drexel University; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Resource Type
- Dissertation
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Psychological and Brain Sciences (Psychology); College of Arts and Sciences; Drexel University
- Other Identifier
- 1230; 991014632383204721