The Abbreviated Self Completion Teen-Addiction Severity Index (ASC T-ASI): Features and Applications

Economic evaluations of new treatments for adolescents with problems of substance use and delinquency are increasingly used to inform decision-makers on whether allocating resources toward these treatments can be considered as offering value for money. Methodological guidelines for economic evaluations in health care often recommend using quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) for expressing treatment-related benefits. However, there are concerns that QALYs do not sufficiently capture benefits beyond health and health-related quality of life (QoL). Hence, the value for money of treatments that offer such broader benefits, like treatments for adolescents with problems of substance use and delinquency, may be underestimated when using QALYs. Broader outcome measures are then called for. This chapter focuses on the features and applications of the Abbreviated Self Completion Teen-Addiction Severity Index (ASC T-ASI). This instrument was developed especially for enabling the measurement and valuation of the broad benefits of treatments for adolescents with problems of substance use and delinquency in economic evaluations. After discussing the rationale behind using economic evaluations for informing resource-allocation decisions in health care and presenting the ASC T-ASI, this chapter goes on to discuss how this instrument can be applied in combination with generic QoL instruments to meet guideline requirements, as well as with cost and delinquency questionnaires to assess the value for money of allocating resources toward these treatments.