The Severity of Dependence Scale (SDS): psychometric properties of the SDS in English and Australian samples of heroin, cocaine and amphetamine users

Abstract

The Severity of Dependence Scale (SDS) was devised to provide a short, easily administered scale which can be used to measure the degree of dependence experienced by users of different types of drugs. The SDS contains five items, all of which are explicitly concerned with psychological components of dependence. These items are specifically concerned with impaired control over drug taking and with preoccupation and anxieties about drug use. The SDS was given to five samples of drug users in London and Sydney. The samples comprised users of heroin and users of cocaine in London, and users of amphetamines and methadone maintenance patients in Sydney. The SDS satisfies a number of criteria which indicate its suitability as a measure of dependence. All SDS items load significantly with a single factor, and the total SDS score was extremely highly correlated with the single factor score. The SDS score is related to behavioural patterns of drug taking that are, in themselves, indicators of dependence, such as dose, frequency of use, duration of use, daily use and degree of contact with other drug users; it also shows criterion validity in that drug users who have sought treatment at specialist and non-specialist agencies for drug problems have higher SDS scores than non-treatment samples. The psychometric properties of the scale were good in all five samples, despite being applied to primary users of different classes of drug, using different recruitment procedures in different cities in different countries.

DISC1 as a Possible Genetic Contribution to Opioid Dependence in a Polish Sample

“…The MINI International Neuropsychiatric Interview (Sheehan et al, 1998) was used to diagnose alcohol or drug dependence and to assess co-occurring psychopathology. The severity of alcohol and drug dependence was evaluated further using the Severity of Dependence Scale (Gossop et al, 1995) and the Michigan Alcohol Screening Test (Selzer, 1971). In addition, the presence of depressive symptoms was assessed in Cohort 1 with the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI; Beck et al, 1961) and in Cohort 2 with the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9; Wittkampf et al, 2007).…”

Perfilando los consumidores de cannabis que autocultivan a pequeña escala

“…Severity of Dependence Scale (SDS) (Gossop et al, 1995). La SDS, de la que se tomó la adaptación castellana para el consumo de cannabis de González-Saiz, de las Cuevas, Barrio, y Domingo-Salvany (2008), evalúa los aspectos psicológicos de la dependencia o consumo compulsivo.…”

Psychometric properties of a Norwegian adaption of the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale‐11 in a sample of Parkinson patients, headache patients, and controls

“…We have previously demonstrated that applying behavioral treatment originally adapted for treatment of addiction of alcohol and illegal drugs, the chronic headache of individuals with medication‐overuse headache may be reversed, thus strengthening the notion that impulse control systems are involved (Kristoffersen et al., 2015). In both PD and addictive disorders, including medication overuse in chronic headache, many other scales which measure disease‐specific impulsive behavior have been used such as the Questionnaire for Impulsive‐compulsive disorders in PD (QUIP), the Severity of Dependence Score (SDS), and others (Gossop et al., 1995; Lundqvist, Aaseth, Grande, Saltyte‐Benth, & Russell, 2010; Weintraub, Papay, & Siderowf, 2013). It may, however, be of interest to compare impulsive behavior between different conditions using a general scale.…”