Drug Abuse Screening Test (DAST-10)
A common disorder affecting many people all over the world is addiction. Addiction involves the overuse of alcohol or drug or making the person dependent on them. Addiction occurs when one feels the urge to take a substance; for instance, cannabis cocaine hijacks parts of the brain that reward behaviour and benefit the body. One is unable to control themselves from taking the substance. One of the tools available for different types of addiction is Drug Abuse Screening Test (DAST-10). DAST-10 is a valid and reliable screening tool used in a clinical setting and applicable for evaluating treatment outcomes as it yields a quantitive index of the degree of consequences related to drug misuse.
Drug Abuse Screening Test (DAST-10) tool was designed to provide a brief self-reporting instrument for population screening in a clinical setting for case finding and treatment evaluation screen. This tool has been used to detect potential drugs abuse during the past twelve months. However, this test is exclusive for alcohol and tobacco abuse (Lam et al., 2015). The test involves questionnaire, interviews and computerized format that are used to assess large groups. DAST tests are only administered to people under the influence of the drug presently or those undergoing drug withdrawal. The tool is brief and inexpensive to administer, besides versions of the test have been developed in different languages (Lam et al., 2015). Therefore, DAST tool scores yield a quantitive index to the problem associated with drug abuse, providing services for a substance-using individual in EAP settings.
Drug Abuse Screening Test (DAST-10) assessment is essential for both prevention and clinical care. This is because it identifies problems as early as possible and evaluates treatment effectiveness (Murad et al., 2021). Information acquired from the assessment helps match a person needs and readiness for change with tailored intercedings. By carring out routine assessment the clinicians are able to record the severity of drug abuse problem in covenient way (Murad et al., 2021). Beiside, this tool is can provide references standards that can be used as a control to monitor changes in the population over time and individual under different settings.
DAST-10 is a valid and reliable screening tool. The tool has been evaluated and demonstrated to achieve excellent diagnostic validity and reliability in various populations and settings. The assessment has outstanding internal consistency reliability at 0.9 of the total sample, 0.86 being for the drug-abuse sample (Shirinbayan et al.,2020). This information is evident as their reason for seeking treatment classifies patients. In research conducted, most individuals with drugs problem scored six and above on 20-items DAST (Shirinbayan et al.,2020). In addition, subsequent research on the various populations, including psychiatric, substance-abuse patients and prison inmates shows that DAST is reliable and diagnostic valid in different settings.
DAST-10 assessment tool has several limitations. First, the details of the DAST items is apparent; clients or patients may fake results, therefore, bringing out making inaccurate results or invalid results that cannot be relied on “Assessment of Substance Abuse: Drug Abuse Screening Test (DAST) .” (n.d.). The other limitation of using DAST tool is that it does not provide a clear picture; this implies the picture concerning a client is incomplete; thus, there is a danger of the assessment scores being overemphasized (El-Bassel et al., 1997). This is because DAST yields a numerical score that could be misinterpreted.
In conclusion, Drug Abuse Screening Test (DAST-10) has been evaluated and demonstrated to achieve excellent diagnostic validity and reliability in various populations and settings therefore helping in early detection of addictions and effective preventions. Some of the limitations for using Drug Abuse Screening Test (DAST-10) items are obvious; therefore, clients or patients may fake results and do not provide a clear picture. This implies the picture concerning a client is incomplete; thus, there is a danger of the assessment scores being overemphasized.
References
“Assessment of Substance Abuse: Drug Abuse Screening Test (DAST) .”(n.d.). Encyclopedia of Drugs, Alcohol, and Addictive Behavior. . Retrieved January 24, 2022, from Encyclopedia.com: https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/assessment-substance-abuse-drug-abuse-screening-test-dast
El-Bassel, N., Schilling, R., Schinke, S., Orlandi, M., Sun, W., & Back, S. (1997). Assessing the Utility of the Drug Abuse Screening Test in the Workplace. Research On Social Work Practice, 7(1), 99-114. https://doi.org/10.1177/104973159700700106
Lam, L., Leung, W., Ip, P., Chow, C., Chan, M., & Ng, J. et al. (2015). Validation of the Drug Abuse Screening Test (DAST-10): A study on illicit drug use among Chinese pregnant women. Scientific Reports, 5(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/srep11420
Murad, H., AlHarthi, N., Bakarman, M., & Gazzaz, Z. (2021). Development and Validation of an Arabic Version of the Drug Abuse Screening Test-10 (DAST-10) among Saudi Drug Abusers. Journal Of Psychoactive Drugs, 1-8. https://doi.org/10.1080/02791072.2021.2013580 Shirinbayan, P., Salavati, M., Soleimani, F., Saeedi, A., Asghari-Jafarabadi, M., Hemmati-Garakani, S., & Vameghi, R. (2020). The Psychometric Properties of the Drug Abuse Screening Test.
