SBIR-STTR Award

This project evaluates the commercial feasibility of the development and implementation of a toll free telephone service providing consultation in the use of the Addiction Severity Index (ASI) and other assessment instruments developed at the University of Pennsylvania/Philadelphia VAMC Center for Studies of Addiction and at other academic centers. The purposes are1) to begin providing easily accessible consultation to the research and treatment communities on the use of substance abuse assessment instruments-2) to gather descriptive data on the users of the service; and3) to analyze the data obtained in the interest of designing and implementing a commercially viable consultation service on utilizing these instruments.Information collected on callers include their primary foci of activity, an inventory of the assessment instruments they currently utilize and the types of training and consultation they have accessed and an assessment of their future needs. A sample of 75 callers are followed up with a telephone survey two weeks after they have utilized the hotline. This data along with the profile of services requested are analyzed and a commercially viable plan designed.Awardee's statement of the potential commercial applications of the research:When this project is completed, it should be possible to design and implement a cost-effective commercially viable service to provide training and consultation on the utilization of substance abuse assessment instruments. The widespread utilization of quality instruments should facilitate the commercial application of outcome evaluation research.National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)

This SBIR Phase II application proposes to develop a range of competency measures for users of the Addictive Severity Index (ASI) to refine current ASI training models, and to empirically examine the effectiveness of three training models on the acquisition, application, and retention of knowledge, using the competency measures MPS will develop. It also proposes: to develop an interactive computer program to teach the ASI and to measure its effectiveness; to ascertain which training modality is most applicable to staff subgroups. The purpose of this project is to respond to field needs for competency-based ASI training. While the standard ASI training model developed at the University of Pennsylvania has been in use since the mid-1980's, its effectiveness has never been formally measured, nor has the effectiveness of the NIDA Instructional Package. During Phase III (Commercialization), MPS will tailor the use of training models and competency measures to meet the individual and organizational needs. Through this grant, MPS will be in a position to respond to the needs of the substance abuse field with the knowledge that we are using effective, state-of-the-art, field tested products. PROPOSED COMMERCIAL APPLICATION: Commercial application of this research is likely to result in increased sales of ASI training products and services, and will facilitate the sale of outcomes studies, audits of substance abuse systems, and other large projects that require the use of a valid, reliable and standardized instrument like the ASI.

Thesaurus Terms:
computer assisted instruction, drug abuse education, drug abuse information system, drug addiction, education evaluation /planning disease /disorder classification