Development and Validation of Short Versions of the Internal Mental Distress and Behavior Complexity Scales in the Global Appraisal of Individual Needs (GAIN)

Abstract

Co-occurring mental distress and behavior problems are the norm in substance abuse treatment but are often poorly assessed due to resource constraints. This paper describes the development and validation of scales measuring internalizing mental distress and externalizing behavior problems that are shorter versions of comorbidity scales found in the full Global Appraisal of Individual Needs (GAIN). GAIN data from two treatment outcome studies, one involving adolescents and the other on adults, were used in the creation and testing of the scales. Subsets of items from the full GAIN scales were selected for the short scales through the application of standard psychometric principles. The short comorbidity scales still have moderate to high reliability and are highly correlated with the full scales. Parallel tests of construct validity show no substantial loss when moving from the longer to shorter versions. The short scales maintain good sensitivity and specificity for predicting diagnostic impressions.

Hope and Abstinence Self-Efficacy: Positive Predictors of Negative Affect in Substance Abuse Recovery

“…The Global Appraisal of Individual Needs — Quick Screen (GAINS-QS; Titus et al 2008) was completed at baseline and Wave 4. The GAIN-QS is a self-report clinical screening tool that was created for adolescents and adults to examine mental health and substance use issues (Dennis 1999).…”

“…The GAIN-QS is a self-report clinical screening tool that was created for adolescents and adults to examine mental health and substance use issues (Dennis 1999). The scale is not meant to be diagnostic, but the mental health questions are similar to DSM-IV criteria (Titus et al 2008). The subscale used in the present study was the Internal Behavior Scale, which includes a Depression Symptom Index of 5 items (e.g.…”

The Impact of Previous Suicide Ideations, Traumatic Stress, and Gender on Future Suicide Ideation Trajectories Among Black American Adolescents: A Longitudinal Investigation

“…Traumatic stress was measured by seven items adapted from the Global Appraisal of Individual Needs (GAIN; Titus, Dennis, Lennox, & Scott, 2008). Each item was created to determine the impact of traumatic events on adolescent populations.…”

“…Reliability of the items was adequate, with a Cronbach's alpha of .77. In the validation study for the GAIN (Titus et al, 2008), internal reliability scores ranged from .71 to .92.…”

HIV Risk Behaviors: Risky Sexual Activities and Needle Use Among Adolescents in Substance Abuse Treatment

“…Additionally, we created a mental health comorbidity variable that included these categories: (a) both externalizing and internalizing problems, (b) externalizing problem only, (c) internalizing problem only, and (d) neither an externalizing nor an internalizing problem. More information on psychometric properties, construct validity, and validation on IMDS and BCS are available [26][27][28][29].…”