Substance Abuse and Addiction Collections
The PhenX Toolkit currently contains over 300 measures spanning 21 research domains and 23 collections (topically related groups of measures). Prior to 2012, measures pertaining to substance abuse and addiction (SAA) were found in seven domains, including the Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Substances domain. To expand the breadth and depth of SAA measures in the Toolkit, the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) funded the development of one "Core" Collection of SAA measures and six "Specialty" Collections. The Core Collection contains new SAA measures as well as measures from the original research domains, and it is envisioned that these Core measures will be appropriate for all SAA and related research studies.
The SAA Collections represent a collaborative effort by the extramural scientific community along with staff members at NIDA, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Cancer Institute, and RTI International. Further details on the SAA project can be found here.
To provide guidance throughout the SAA project, a SAA Scientific Panel (SSP) of 10 academic and federal governmental scientists was assembled. The SSP identified and defined the scope of six Specialty Areas and helped identify members with relevant expertise for the Working Groups (WGs). Each of three SAA WGs, composed of academic and federal government experts, addressed two Specialty Areas.
- SAA WG 1: Substance Use
- Specialty Area 1: Assessment of substance use and substance use disorders (7 measures)
- Specialty Area 2: Substance-specific intermediate phenotypes (5 measures)
- SAA WG 2: Risk Factors
- Specialty Area 3: Substance use-related neurobehavioral and cognitive risk factors (7 measures)
- Specialty Area 4: Substance use-related psychosocial risk factors (7 measures)
- SAA WG 3: Community, Comorbidities, and Outcomes
- Specialty Area 5: Substance use-related community factors (8 measures)
- Specialty Area 6: Substance use-related co-morbidities and health-related outcomes (8 measures)
The SAA WGs recommended up to eight high-priority measures for each Specialty Area. These measures are presented in the Toolkit as Specialty Collections. The SSP reviewed all new SAA WG measures and other SAA measures from the research domains to select the Core Collection. The SSP was given the option of selecting up to three additional high-priority measures for the Core Collection.
The Core Collection includes highly recommended measures deemed by the SSP as broadly relevant to addiction research. Investigators who select the "Core: Tier 1" Collection will have the entire set of measures (19 measures) placed in "My Toolkit". The "Core: Tier 2" Collection contains 8 complementary measures that require a greater time commitment; investigators may select individual measures or the entire set of 8 measures to place into "My Toolkit".