Standardized Substance Use Screening and Assessment Tools

The substance use screening tool should be developmentally appropriate, valid, reliable, and practical for use in a busy medical office. The best screening tools contain the lowest number of succinct, validated questions that can elicit accurate and reliable responses. At a minimum, the screening tool combined with clinical judgment and additional assessments as needed should help identify the patient’s frequency of substance use and risk level. 

The following are commonly used substance use screening/assessment tools:

• Screening to Brief Intervention (S2BI)
• Brief Screener for Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drugs (BSTAD)
• Alcohol Screening and Brief Intervention for Youth: A Practitioner's Guide
• Car, Relax, Alone, Forget, Friends, Trouble (CRAFFT)

Each tool provides an interpretation of screening results; below is to screening interpretation for S2B1 and CRAFFT.

Interpreting Substance Use Screening Results

Each tool provides an interpretation of screening results.

Interpreting S2BI

Interpreting CRAFFT

Explore Yes responses with the patient to reveal the extent of substance use-related problems and inform the brief intervention.