Assessment in psychology is frequently to get a full understanding of each client’s situation and possible issues. There are many different assessment procedures including testing and interviews. For an addictions counselor, assessments may focus on possible substance use issues such as type of substance used and frequency or severity of use. The Drug Abuse Screening Test (DAST-20) may be considered for use to assess substance use in a client. An evaluation of this test by the professional is necessary to determine its usefulness in a situation. When attempting to make this determination, the professional will need to assess the purpose and design of the assessment, errors such as hits and misses, impact of these errors on interpretation of construct, and impact of these errors on the validity of the assessment.…show more content… The purpose of the DAST-20 is to measure the possible use or involvement with drugs and to measure the severity of a substance use disorder (Buros Center for Testing, 2015). This test is designed to determine what substance use, if any, is taking place and how it is affecting the individual’s life. The test was published by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, leading insight to its origin in 1982 (Buros Center for Testing, 2015). The professional could take the publisher into consideration as a possible expert on the situation as the purpose of the Centre is to evaluate and treat substance use issues. This should not be the only consideration, however, as analysis of the reliability, validity, and assessment strategies should be taken into consideration as well as research that has been done on or with the DAST-20. It is the responsibility of the professional to make the best assessment choice for analyzing the situation that is present with their client secondary to the vast number of assessments to choose
