Clinical judgement versus selfrating of demoralization inoutpatients with a substanceuse disorder

AbstractPurpose:
Purpose: To investigate the ability of case managers, working in ambulatory treatment settings specialized in addiction care, to clinically judge demoralization insubstancedependent patients.

Design and Methods: In a crosssectional study, clinical judgments of case managerswere compared with the patients' scores on the Demoralization Scale, by calculatingthe sensitivity and specificity scores.

Findings: Case managers identified demoralization in 85% of the cases (sensitivity),the specificity of 62% suggests that demoralization was overestimated by casemanagers.

Practice Implications: Demoralization is a frequently occurring phenomenon inpatients. Methods should be developed that allow professionals and patients toidentify demoralization collaboratively, and to develop tailored interventions toprevent demoralization and its negative consequences