Validity and reliability of the Severity of Dependence Scale (SDS) in a Brazilian sample of drug users

Abstract

The Severity of Dependence Scale (SDS) is a short, five-item scale which provides a measure of degree of dependence upon different drugs. The present study explores the validity and reliability of a Portuguese version of the instrument with a sample of 374 Brazilian drug users. Concurrent validity of the SDS was assessed in relation to reported quantity of drugs used and to DSM-IV dependence items, and test-retest reliability was assessed with a subsample of 42 subjects. The SDS total scores for powder cocaine, crack cocaine, cannabis and alcohol were significantly and highly positively correlated with severity of dependence as measured by DSM-IV, and with the estimated quantity of drugs used in the last month. Test-retest coefficients were high for all drugs studied. Principal components analysis showed that the SDS scores lie on a single dimension with the exception of crack cocaine where scores lie on a single dimension for treatment attenders and on two dimensions for community samples. The results indicate that the Portuguese version of the SDS is a valid research tool for measuring severity of dependence upon powder cocaine (snorted), crack cocaine (smoked), cannabis and alcohol.

Severity of khat dependence among adult khat chewers: The moderating influence of gender and age

“…The Severity of Dependence Scale (Gossop et al, 1995) is a widely used scale which was developed to assess psychological dependence in illicit drug users (Ferri et al, 2000; Gossop et al, 1995; Swift et al, 1998; Bastiani et al, 2013; Tsai et al, 2012). The SDS consists of five items with each response measured on a Likert-like scale between 0-3, giving a total score out of 15.…”

Hair Cortisol and Stressful Life Events Retrospective Assessment in Crack Cocaine Users

“…All participants provided their sociodemographic history. The Severity of Dependence Scale (SDS) (18) assessed the degree of drug dependence and the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (19) measured the severity of early exposure to stress. The exclusion criteria for this study included a DSM-IV diagnosis of dependence for any drug other than cocaine or nicotine.…”

Severity of Dependence Scale as a Diagnostic Tool for Heroin and Cocaine Dependence

“…There is considerable evidence of the good psychometric properties of this scale, specifically its reliability, and construct validity for various substances of abuse and in various languages [6][7][8][9][10] .…”