Many people deny that their alcohol consumption is affecting their families or their lives. An alcohol evaluation is sometimes ordered after conviction for a DUI or by your primary care physician if she has concerns about your health because of your drinking. You may even decide to undergo an alcohol evaluation yourself because your own pattern of drinking is starting to disturb you or your family.
Definition
Darryl Townes, Ph.D., of Darryl Townes Consulting and Psychological Services in Atlanta, Georgia, says an alcohol evaluation is a multi-pronged investigation gauging the impact of alcohol on your life and your health. He says it is a significant tool used by physicians and psychologists to identify an alcohol problem and treat it, even if you are denying the problem or don't realize you have one. An alcohol evaluation can identify years' worth of drinking patterns in just a few hours.
Process
According to Aaron Wolff, a DUI attorney practicing in Washington State, an alcohol evaluation will generally start with a urinalysis to determine whether or not you currently have any alcohol in your system. Next you'll take one of the standard evaluation tests. You'll complete a questionnaire asking you about your own perception of your drinking patterns. Then you'll meet face-to-face with your evaluator.
Components
Two tests often used in alcohol evaluations are the CAGE questionnaire, a short four-question test, and the Michigan Standard Screening Test, or MAST, which has 22 questions. The World Health Organization conceived AUDIT--the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test--as a brief assessment. The TWEAK test is a five-question test aimed at evaluating alcohol consumption in pregnant women. One of these tests will generally be used as a component of the evaluation.
Accuracy
When one of the standard tests is included in an alcohol evaluation, results can depend on the type of test used. A "yes" answer to half of the CAGE questions can accurately indicate alcohol abuse 74 percent of the time and can accurately exclude 91 percent of patients who are not abusing alcohol, according to the website Faqs.org. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism finds that the MAST test leads to more accurate evaluations than the CAGE questionnaire, but the AUDIT and TWEAK tests are more accurate than both, especially when evaluating men and African Americans.
Results
Wolff says that there are three levels of evaluation results. NSP indicates "no significant problem." SP1 indicates that you may not have an addiction to alcohol, but you have the potential to abuse it. SP2 means that you have a significant problem with alcohol.
References
- DUIAttorney: What is an Alcohol and Drug Evaluation
- Townes Consulting and Psychological Services: The Drug and Alcohol Psychological Evaluation
- Faqs.org: Screening For Alcohol Abuse Using CAGE Scores and Likelihood Ratios
- National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism: Self-Report Screening For Alcohol Problems Among Adults; Gerald J. Connors, Ph.D. and Robert J. Volk, Ph.D.
- World Health Organization: AUDIT: The Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test
