ASI software has been developed with extensive consultation from the developers of the Addiction Severity Index, Thomas McLellan Ph.D., his clinical and research staff and from practitioners and program directors from around the country. The response to the software, its ease of use, interface, narrative bio-psycho-social and reporting capabilities has been overwhelmingly positive.
There are several companies that provide ASI software products. ASI TRAINING ONLINE staff has used software from the three leading providers of computerized software for the ASI. It is our opinion, and based on over 20 years of experience as well as feedback from clinicians and Administrators around the country that the best software currently available is the software developed in conjunction with Dr. A. Thomas McLellan and his staff, call us for more information on this software and how to obtain it. The software suite is an electronic ASI data collection system created with substance abuse treatment providers in mind. It automates administration of the ASI through an intuitive, time-saving interface used mainly by counselors at treatment facilities. The software takes very little time to learn and has a host of benefits unavailable to states and/or programs currently using paper and pencil instruments. The software was designed to be as easy to use as possible, especially for those with little or no previous experience with computers. All major functions are accessed through point-and click button pressing, and all frequently used buttons have graphics to provide a visual aid. In addition, there are no menus, or “options” screens to configure. The software contains a number of embedded quality assurance measures to assure the data collected is as accurate as possible. Most visible among these is a series of Crosschecks and Defaults within the ASI portion of the software. Each ASI item within the software is displayed along with a “hint” at the bottom of the screen. These hints provide information on the intent of the item, any special coding rules, and recommended additional probes to provide clinicians with more detailed information. The content of the hint box changes each time the counselor clicks on a new item within the ASI, assuring that the display is always relevant to the question being asked.
Also included in the software is a text box for entering comments. This is available for each item on the ASI and allows a counselor to enter additional information and detail for each question. The content of the comments box refreshes as the counselor moves from item to item (similar to the hints), and all comments are automatically integrated in understandable text and logical sequence into the ASI Print-out and Narrative Summary alongside their related items. Finally, there is a place at the end of each ASI section for counselors to write additional comments or note information gathered beyond the standard ASI items.
The software produces two types of reports, Client Level and Aggregate reports. Client level reports are summaries of an individual case, and are available in three formats – the ASI Print-Out, the ASI Narrative Report and the Treatment Care Plan Problem List. These are useful in treatment planning, creating a bio-psychosocial report of the client’s case, tracking changes in a client over time, etc. Aggregate reports summarize all of the cases on a particular computer, and are available from various perspectives (male compared to female clients, clients receiving welfare vs. those who are not, etc. These are typically used for tracking trends in a client population, performing program evaluation, submitting responses to data requests, etc.