Validation of the Social Satisfaction Questionnaire for outcome evaluation in substance use disorders

Aims and method: To develop a scale to measure social satisfaction in people with substance use disorders and to test its psychometric properties. The rationale is that social satisfaction is more universal and relevant to treatment planning than assessing social problems. The new Social Satisfaction Questionnaire (SSQ) was derived from an existing social problems questionnaire and validation was undertaken on two large clinic populations. Results: An eight-item SSQ was tested and found to have good psychometric properties in terms of test-retest reliability, internal consistency, distribution of responses and concurrent validity. Clinical implications: The SSQ is suitable for use as the social domain element of an outcome measures package.