Substance misuse services: delivery of psychological interventions
Strategy aimed at increasing access to support for people working to recover from problematic alcohol and drug use.
Appendix 2: Outcome measurement
The use of validated outcome measures or, when not available, regular structured evaluation is advised to determine whether a specific intervention is effective. These provide a useful overview of added value for commissioners, and help to guide service delivery and development. The table below provides examples of commonly used outcome measures. Please note that this does not represent a prescriptive or exhaustive list. Measures for therapeutic interventions should be selected on the basis of the target symptoms or disorders for change via therapy.
Examples of commonly used outcome measures
| Type of intervention |
Recommended outcome/evaluation measures |
Recommended frequency |
|---|---|---|
| Direct psychological intervention |
CORE / CORE – 10 (Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation) HADS (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale) BDI (Beck Depression Inventory) BAI (Beck Anxiety Inventory) MHCS (Mental Health Confidence Scale) WEMWS (Warwick Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale) WSAS (Work and Social Adjustment Scale) Brief COPE DERS (Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale) Impact of Events Scale - Revised |
Pre- and post- therapy Regularly during therapy as per local guidelines/clinical need |
| Trauma-focused group work |
CORE/ CORE – 10 (Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation) DERS (Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale) MHCS (Mental Health Confidence Scale) WEMWS (Warwick Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale) WSAS (Work and Social Adjustment Scale) |
Pre- and post-group |
| Supervision – general |
The Division of Clinical Psychology ( DCP) [24] recommends that supervision can be monitored in a variety of ways, including formal audit and via annual appraisal |
Annual (at a minimum) |
| Coaching – Motivational Interviewing ( MI/core skills |
Local psychology services will utilise bespoke evaluation measures to determine the effectiveness of individual coaching sessions; these will typically include a mixture of qualitative and quantitative items |
After each coaching session |
| MI practice |
An individual staff member’s competency in MI can be assessed using measures such as:
These measures are used by an experienced MI practitioner to assess an individual’s competence in delivering MI either via direct observation or audio/visual session recording |
As per local supervision and coaching policy |
Contact
Alcohol and Drug Delivery team: Alcohol_and_Drug_partnerships@gov.scot
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