THE ADDICTION SEVERITY INDEX

The ASI at 25: Read how historical and practical considerations have improved the instrument over time.

The ASI is an assessment instrument designed to be administered as a semi-structured interview in one hour or less to patients who present for substance abuse treatment. The instrument gathers information about seven areas of a patient’s life: medical, employment/support, drug and alcohol use, legal, family history, family/social relationships, and psychiatric problems. Using a ten point scale from 0 to 9, interviewer severity ratings indicate the degree of patient problems in each of the seven problem areas, based on historical and current information. Composite scores are based entirely on current information and are indicators of the present status of the patient; they are thus useful for treatment outcome studies, since successive Composite scores can be used to summarize changes in patient status.

The ASI was developed in 1980 by A. Thomas McLellan and collaborators from the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for the Studies of Addiction. The availability of this, the first standardized, multidimensional assessment instrument transformed research, policy and practice in substance abuse. More About the ASI.