Counselor Magazine - Elderly Substance Abuse Checklist

Newsflash

The Association for Medical Education and Research in Substance Abuse will hold its 32nd Annual AMERSA National Conference on November 6-8, 2008, in Washington DC.

The meeting will reflect on AMERSA's interdisciplinary strengths and the commitment to disseminate the latest developments in substance abuse education, prevention, treatment and research that challenge all health care professionals.

Confirmed plenary sessions include:

Carlo DiClemente, PhD and Thaddeus Herzog, PhD in a Spicy Debate - Contemplating Change: The Pros and Cons of the Transtheoretical Model for Understanding Changes in Substance Use

John Rodolico, PhD, Terence Keane, PhD and Susan Storti, PhD, RN in a Plenary Panel Session on Combat Stress and Substance Abuse in the Wake of War

Randolph D. Muck, MEd, Center for Substance Abuse Treatment, speaking on Adolescent/Emerging Adults

John Cunningham, PhD, Senior Scientist Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, speaking on the Internet and New Media as Tools to Recovery

Jerome Jaffe, MD, University of Maryland School of Medicine, will be the recipient of the distinguished John P. McGovern Award

Stephanie O'Malley, PhD, Director, Division of Substance Abuse Research, CMHC, will receive the prestigious Betty Ford Award honoring her valuable contributions to the substance abuse field.

Call for Abstracts now open. Submit abstracts and workshops online by May 15.

For further information, visit www.amersa.org or contact This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

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Elderly Substance Abuse Checklist

Columns - Assessment Tools

Sunday, 31 July 2005

This checklist is designed primarily for elderly individuals who may have an addiction and/or psychological or physical dependency on drugs (including over-the-counter, prescription, and illicit) and/or alcohol. The checklist contains statements about use of substances and affective and cognitive factors associated with substance abuse in elderly clients. For example, research indicates that many elderly clients who abuse substances have a history of prior substance abuse, suffer from depression and/or anxiety, loneliness, loss of role, and other concerns.

If more than five (N=5) statements are selected, the counselor should assume that further probing and clinical work may be necessary. Although no cut-off scores have been specified for the Elderly Substance Abuse Checklist, in general, the higher the number of statements selected, the more likely that the client is manifesting concerns in this area.
Although designed as a checklist, the counselor can restate or reword each item slightly and ask the client each question verbally. This would allow the checklist to be used as an interview guide instead of as a self-report form.

(1) Strongly Disagree • (2) Disagree • (3) Neither Agree nor Disagree • (4) Agree • (5) Strongly Agree

1. I have taken some medication(s) that were not prescribed for me.
2. I am in a nursing home/I worry about going to a nursing home.
3. Things aren’t as good for me as they used to be.
4. I have drunk alcohol, taken prescription drugs, or done both for many years.
5. I often feel sad.
6. I find myself increasingly using certain medications/drugs.
7. I worry about burdening people I care about.
8. Little by little, I am losing the people I love.
9. Sometimes, I share medications with my friends.
10. My doctor seldom asks about my use of alcohol or prescription drugs.
11. Sometimes, I think about hurting myself.
12. I am willing to try any drug/medication that will help me to feel better.
13. When I get bored, I smoke too much.
14. I have used medications and/or alcohol for relief from my physical symptoms.
15. Sometimes, I just feel overwhelmed.
16. It depresses me that I am not as healthy as I used to be
17. I am lonely a lot of the time.
18. I know I drink too much, but I just can’t help myself.
19. I really miss the satisfaction I felt when I was working.
20. It bothers me that I feel dependent on alcohol/medications to feel better.

Sylvia Kay Fisher, Ph.D., Educational Measurement and Evaluation, has significant program evaluation experience and was formerly a counselor and psychological evaluator. Ronnie Fisher is a retired psychology teacher and a former social worker and counselor.