Screening for concurrent disorders

A recently completed research study explored the use of screening tools to identify concurrent mental health disorders among clients entering substance use treatment services. The research project was the outgrowth of a lengthy collaborative process to address a widely recognized need with an evidence-based response in the Canadian context. An international symposium was then organized to clarify research and clinical practice priorities related to the effective identification of mental disorders in this treatment population. This process culminated in the development of two consecutive research proposals which were funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). The first study was developed to validate screening tools for the identification of mental disorders in clients with substance use problems and the second, a knowledge transfer grant to test the feasibility of a staged-approach to screening for mental disorders in clients entering substance use treatment services. Based on the results of the validation study, the GAIN Internal Mental Distress Scale (IMDS), a 5-item brief screener which is one of the sub-scales of the GAIN-SS, was selected for use in the knowledge transfer study in the first stage of the screening process. The knowledge transfer grant was also intended to promote the application of the research results in conjunction with ongoing initiatives within CAMH to promote screening for mental health disorders within addiction treatment services. This report presents findings from the knowledge transfer component of this overall collaborative community-research process.