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J Pead

Publications and source records attributed to J Pead.

8 recordsLinked to original sources

Measurement of the severity of amphetamine dependence.

A Severity of Amphetamine Dependence Questionnaire (SAmDQ) was administered to 101 subjects attending an Australian drug dependency treatment centre. The SAmDQ was adapted from the Severity of Opiate and Alcohol Dependence Questionnaires (SODQ & SADQ). The structural characteristics of the SAmDQ were examined and compared with previous findings reported on samples of opiate addicts with the SODQ. A high degree of consistency was found between the results obtained with the SAmDQ and previous findings with the SODQ. The relationship between the SAmDQ and the Severity of Dependence Scale (SDS) was also examined. The findings suggest that further development of amphetamine dependence measurement is required.

Adolescent

An evaluation of the psychoactive substance dependence syndrome in its application to opiate users.

The Psychoactive Substance Abuse and Dependence (PSDA) section of the revised, 3rd edition of the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders (DSM-III-R) bears a close correspondence to the conceptualization of a dependence syndrome as posited by Edwards, Arif & Hodgson (1981). Further, DSM-III-R represents a major shift in psychodiagnostics. The present study investigated hypothesized properties of the dependence syndrome and examined the characteristics of DSM-III-R criteria with a sample of opiate users. Findings indicated general support for the unidimensional postulate of the dependence syndrome but did not support the weighting of syndrome elements within DSM-III-R. The implications of such findings for the proposed DSM-IV are discussed.

Adolescent

Severity of opiate dependence in an Australian sample: further validation of the SODQ.

The Severity of Opiate Dependence Questionnaire (SODQ) was administered to 114 subjects attending an Australian drug dependency treatment centre. The psychometric properties of the SODQ were examined and compared with previous findings reported on American and British samples of opiate addicts. Severity of opiate dependence was assessed independently using a structured clinical interview based on DSM-III-R criteria (i.e. SCID-R). Together those analyses suggested (i) measurement difficulties with some aspects of the opiate dependence syndrome and (ii) only a modest relationship between subjects' self-report and clinicians' judgements of severity of opiate dependence.

Adult