Development of a Self-report Measure of Dual Diagnosis Capability for Addiction and Mental Health Programs

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to develop and test the psychometrics of a self-report version of a measure of the capacity of addiction and mental health programs to deliver dual-diagnosis treatment, that is, to provide treatment for both addiction problems and mental health problems. Traditionally these services are provided by very different service providers that did not until recently interact very well, if at all. The increasing recognition that patients who suffer from both kinds of problems – who are dually diagnosed – would benefit from integrated delivery of addiction and mental health services has led to efforts to encourage provision of such integrated services in programs that have tended to focus primarily on the delivery of either addiction or mental health services to the exclusion of the other. In order to assess how well the integration of these services is progressing, various measures have been developed, one of which is the original Dual Diagnosis Capability in Addiction Treatment (DDCAT) Index. The DDCAT, as it now stands, however, is a very time-intensive tool. It requires a rater to visit a site and spend one half to a full day there interviewing administrators, therapists, and patients, reviewing medical records, and attending meetings. The purpose of this study is to test a self-report version of the DDCAT that will be administered to administrators and therapists to see how well it performs compared to the more time- intensive procedures of the original DDCAT.