Measuring clinically significant outcomes - LDQ, CORE-10 and SSQ as dimension measures of addiction.

Duncan Raistrick,Tom Evans,Jenny Sweetman,Sally Unsworth,Gillian Tober,Helen Crosby

doi:10.1192/pb.bp.112.041301

Abstract

Aims and method To determine values for reliable change and clinically significant change for the Leeds Dependence Questionnaire (LDQ) and Social Satisfaction Questionnaire (SSQ). The performance of these two measures with the Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation (CORE-10) as three dimension measures of addiction was then explored.Results The reliable change statistic for both LDQ and SSQ was ⩾4; the cut-offs for clinically significant change were LDQ ⩽10 males, ⩽5 females, and SSQ ⩾16. There was no overlap of 95% CIs for means by gender between ‘well-functioning’ and pre- and post-treatment populations.Clinical implications These data enable the measurement of clinically significant change using the LDQ and SSQ and add to the evidence for the performance of the LDQ, CORE-10 and SSQ as dimension measures of addiction. The CORE-10 and SSQ can be used as treatment outcome measures for mental health problems other than addiction.

Highlights

There was no overlap of 95% CIs for means by gender between ‘well-functioning’ and pre- and post-treatment populations. Clinical implications These data enable the measurement of clinically significant change using the Leeds Dependence Questionnaire (LDQ) and Satisfaction Questionnaire (SSQ) and add to the evidence for the performance of the LDQ, CORE-10 and SSQ as dimension measures of addiction
The CORE-10 and SSQ can be used as treatment outcome measures for mental health problems other than addiction
The age, gender and mean scores of the LDQ and SSQ are shown in Tables 1 and 2

Summary

Results

In the ‘well-functioning’ sample, 6.6% described themselves as abstainers from alcohol and were excluded from further analysis; 52.0% described themselves as occasional drinkers and 41.4% as regular drinkers; 9.4% said they used illicit drugs. The age, gender and mean scores of the LDQ and SSQ are shown in Tables 1 and 2. There are no overlaps in the confidence intervals for the means of the LDQ and SSQ in the ‘well-functioning’ and ‘dysfunctional’ (clinical) populations either pre- or post-treatment compared by gender. The cut-off points for the probability of belonging to the ‘well-functioning’ group are: LDQ (lower score is better) male 9.8 (rounded to 410), female 5.0 (rounded to 45); SSQ (higher score is better) male 15.3, female 17.2 (rounded to 516 for both genders). For three age groups (535, 35-49, 550 years old) the proportions achieving clinically significant change were: LDQ 33.6%, 42.4%, 51.4%; CORE-10 24.6%, 26.5%, 33.3%; SSQ 17.0%, 26.4%, 20.1%. For episode categories (1st, 2nd, 3rd or more) the proportions achieving clinically significant change were: LDQ 44.0%, 35.5%, 46.6%; CORE-10 28.5%, 27.3%, 26.2%; SSQ 22.6%, 21.3%, 22.9%. The baseline and follow-up correlations are LDQ and CORE-10: 0.65 and 0.61; LDQ and SSQ: 70.39 and 70.30; CORE-10 and SSQ: 70.47 and 70.56

Method

Discussion