Selection of a substance use disorder diagnostic instrument by the National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network.

This article describes the process undertaken within the CTN to select the most suitable substance abuse disorders diagnostic instrument for use in community-based clinical trials.

Five widely-recognized instruments were evaluated by a panel of university researchers and community-based treatment providers. After considering the pragmatic and scientific pros and cons of each instrument, the CTN Steering Committee selected the CIDI-2 as the common diagnosistic tool for practitioners and clinical researchers in the CTN.