The scale for treatment integration of the dually diagnosed (STIDD): an instrument for assessing intervention strategies in the pharmacotherapy of mentally ill substance abusers.

Abstract

The authors developed a series of 15 multiple-choice vignettes which pose common dilemmas in the pharmacotherapy of patients suffering from psychoactive substance use disorders coexisting with other mental disorders. Fourteen judges standardized the treatment options along a 'treatment integration continuum'. The authors surveyed 112 psychiatrists with the vignettes and 3 subscales of the Substance Abuse Attitude Survey. Ten of the 15 vignettes were taken to form the normally distributed Scale for Treatment Integration of the Dually Diagnosed (STIDD), which is described in terms of its reliability, validity and potential use as a teaching and research tool.