The development of standardised treatment monitoring tool for use by researchers and clinicians: The Australian Alcohol Treatment Outcome Measure (AATOM)

NDARC Staff

Jan Copeland, Alison Ritter, Peter Gates and Melanie Simpson

Other Investigators

Nicole Lee (Turning Point) and Larry Pierce (NADA)

Aims

The overall aim was to develop a reliable and valid alcohol treatment outcome measurement tool to serve the needs of health professionals and their clients, policy makers, funding bodies and the research community.

Design and Method

Two versions of the Australian Alcohol Treatment Outcome Measure (AATOM) were developed. The AATOM-C was intended for use amongst clinicians for the purposes of routine treatment outcome monitoring, for service development and to assist with fulfilling funding requirements. The AATOM-R was developed for use amongst the research community and is considerably more detailed than the AATOM-C. NDARC was primarily responsible for the development of the AATOM-C, whilst Turning Point was responsible for the development of the AATOM-R.

The development of the AATOM-C was divided into three phases:

• Phase One - Literature review and content development
• Phase Two - Reliability and validity testing
• Phase Three - A 12-month feasibility study

Output

The AATOM study has been completed. A number of conference presentations across Australia have been given on the findings and development of the AATOM study. Additionally, two NDARC technical reports (no.s 288 and 296) have been published. The findings of the study are also currently being written up for publication in academic journals.

Technical Reports:

288. Simpson, M., Lawrinson, P., Copeland, J., & Gates, P. (2007). The Australian Alcohol Treatment Outcome Measure (AATOM-C): Psychometric properties. Sydney: National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre. (full text pdf version)

296. Simpson, M., Copeland, J., & Lawrinson, P. (2008). The Australian Alcohol Treatment Measure (AATOM-C): Findings of the 12-month feasibility study. Sydney: National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre. (full text pdf version)

Funding

Alcohol Education and Rehabilitation Fund (AERF)