Global Appraisal of Individual Needs (GAIN):
Global Appraisal of Individual Needs (GAIN) overview
Development and purpose
The Global Appraisal of Individual Needs (GAIN)1 originated in 1993 as a collaboration between clinicians, researchers, and policymakers from over a dozen behavioral healthcare agencies to create a comprehensive biopsychosocial assessment tool. It is a progressive and integrated series of measures and computer applications designed to support a number of treatment practices, including initial screenings; brief interventions; referrals; standardized clinical assessments for diagnosis, placement, and treatment planning; monitoring of changes in clinical status, service utilization, and costs to society; and subgroup- and program-level needs assessment and evaluation.
Utilization
The GAIN is an evidence-based assessment used with both adolescents and adults and in outpatient, intensive outpatient, partial hospitalization, methadone, short-term residential, long-term residential, therapeutic community, and correctional programs. It has been adopted by hundreds of agencies and systems of care in communities ranging from large urban areas (Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, New York City, Oakland) to moderately sized and small urban communities (Bloomington, IL; Farmington, CT; Mobile, AL; Peoria, IL; Phoenix and Tucson, AZ; and St. Petersburg, FL) and rural areas and reservations (Four Corners, NM; Iowa City, IA; Madison County, IL; Sault Ste. Marie, MI; Seven Counties, KY). It is used as the core clinical and research measure across several major multisite studies, including the Adolescent Residential Treatment (ART) program, the Co-occurring Disorder program, the Adolescent Treatment Model (ATM) program, the Assertive Continuing Care (ACC) experiment, the Cannabis Youth Treatment (CYT) experiment, the Drug Outcome Monitoring System (DOMS), the Early Re-Intervention (ERI) experiment, Mothers at the Crossroads, the Persistent Effect of Treatment Study (PETS), Strengthening Communities for Youth, and Reclaiming Futures. Funding for these studies has come from the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT), the Interventions Foundation, the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF)
Licensure, training, and support
The GAIN is copyrighted by Chestnut Health Systems. Licensing to use any of the GAIN family of instruments is $100 per agency for 5 years of use. Multisite licenses are available as well. GAIN trainings are held several times per year in open or specially arranged workshops that are part of a continuing education and certification process, and Chestnut has been accredited by the American Psychological Association to offer continuing education credits (CEU) for attendance at these trainings. GAIN software, which includes data entry and computer assisted administration options as well as the ability to generate various clinical reports, is available for purchase. You can view samples of the clinical reports, as well as different versions of the GAIN and other related information, at
http://www.chestnut.org/li/gain.
Chestnut Health Systems GAIN Coordinating Center (GCC) provides quality assurance reviews and certification, software support, analytic support, technical assistance, and training support for hundreds of sites that use the GAIN.
Training for administering the Global Appraisal of Individual Needs can be scheduled for small groups with our national GAIN trainer John Thompson. Larger group trainings can be schedule in collaberation with Evidence Based Practice Network & Chestnut Health Systems. |