Factor analysis of treatment outcomes from aUKspecialist addiction service: Relationship between theLeedsDependenceQuestionnaire,SocialSatisfactionQuestionnaire and 10‐itemClinicalOutcomes inRoutineEvaluation

Abstract

Introduction and AimsTo examine the relationship between three outcome measures used by a specialist addiction service (UK): the Leeds Dependence Questionnaire (LDQ), the Social Satisfaction Questionnaire (SSQ) and the 10-item Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation (CORE-10).Design and MethodA clinical sample of 715 service user records was extracted from a specialist addiction service (2011) database. The LDQ (dependence), SSQ (social satisfaction) and CORE-10 (psychological distress) were routinely administered at the start of treatment and again between 3 and 12 months post-treatment. A mixed pre/post-treatment dataset of 526 service users was subjected to exploratory factor analysis. Parallel Analysis and the Hull method were used to suggest the most parsimonious factor solution.ResultsExploratory factor analysis with three factors accounted for 66.2% of the total variance but Parallel Analysis supported two factors as sufficient to account for observed correlations among items. In the two-factor solution, LDQ items and nine of the 10 CORE-10 items loaded on the first factor >0.41, and the SSQ items on factor 2 with loadings >0.63. A two dimensional summary appears sufficient and clinically meaningful.Discussion and ConclusionsAmong specialist addiction service users, social satisfaction appears to be a unique construct of addiction and is not the same as variation due to psychological distress or dependence. Our interpretation of the findings is that dependence is best thought of as a specific psychological condition subsumed under the construct psychological distress. [Fairhurst C, Böhnke JR, Gabe R, Croudace TJ, Tober G, Raistrick D. Factor analysis of treatment outcomes from a UK specialist addiction service: Relationship between the Leeds Dependence Questionnaire, Social Satisfaction Questionnaire and 10-item Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation. Drug Alcohol Rev 2014;33:643–650]

Disentangling psychopathology, substance use and dependence: a factor analysis

“…Consistent with the wider literature cited above, we found significant and moderate correlations between psychopathology and severity of dependence in a clinical sample of drug and alcohol users, although these were distinct and separate dimensions. Factor analyses indicated that depression and anxiety symptoms loaded onto a single underlying dimension, which converges with prior studies [ 51 , 52 ]. Substance use and severity of dependence were strongly associated and mapped onto a single dimension.…”

Italian validation of the Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation 10 (CORE-10): a short measure for routine outcome monitoring in clinical practice

“…Similarly, the internal reliability of the scale was good, and this suggests that all items were closely related to each other. Of note, Item 2 ("I have felt I have someone to turn to for support when needed") had the lowest loading among all others, suggesting that the variance of this item was not adequately captured by the latent dimension "distress"; In fact, there is still an open debate in the literature about whether this item should be considered a part of the psychological distress factor or, rather, a part of social wellbeing (i.e., Fairhurst et al, 2014).…”