Att fånga det svårfångade  : En studie av bakgrunden till och tillämpningen av bedömningsinstrumenten ASI och DOK

ABSTRACT Standardized assessment instruments have increasingly come to be used in social work. Although national studies of ASI and DOK's reliability and validity has only been examined to a limited extent. In order to improve knowledge of assessment instruments conditions, relevance and scope, this present literature study highlights the background and the application of the interview methods ASI and DOK, used in swedish abuse and dependent care. In answering the survey questions, a qualitative content analytical method has been used. ASI and DOK are multidimensional interviews which take into account that several areas affecting the client's treatment outcome. Assessment instruments differ in respect of use, approach to the assessment of client needs and help troubled, the basis for the interview estimates and its rating scales. International research shows that the ASI and DOK include a number of methodological problems that affect the reliability and validity in self-reported data. Assessment instruments different question areas, however, lacks a theoretical framework that allows any assumptions about the causal relationships between key areas of life and substance abuse problems. In accordance with a social constructionism perspective, ASI and DOK's usability are time and culture bound and must therefore be seen as methods that are in a constant process of change to generate as reliable knowledge as possible. Keywords: assessment instrument, social work, Addiction Severity Index, ASI, documentation system, DOC, structured interviews, addiction, substance abuse