WHO Alcohol, Smoking and Substance Involvement Screening Test
WHO ASSIST v3.1 is a clinician interview of tobacco, alcohol, and other substance involvement. This page is for clinics. It is not a diagnosis and not a public test.
Overview
What is the WHO ASSIST?
The Alcohol, Smoking and Substance Involvement Screening Test asks about lifetime use and the past three months for each substance class. It is a structured WHO interview, not a toxicology panel and not a self-report form.
Development and clinical use
WHO published the ASSIST manual for use in primary care in 2010. The questionnaire in that manual is version 3.1. Linked brief-intervention materials exist. Those interventions are clinical work, not something this webpage performs.
- Publisher
- WHO
- Edition
- ASSIST v3.1, 2010
- Respondent
- Clinician interview
- Scores
- One score per substance
- Total
- Not calculated
- Diagnosis
- Not established by score
Administration
A structured clinical conversation
A clinician conducts the interview and records the answers here. The form is never sent to the client portal. A question the interview does not ask is left unanswered, and a substance that was never used scores 0.
- Prompt-by-prompt structure without replacing the interview
- Space to record the clinician's ratings, not a client self-score
- Review of what was covered before finishing
- Results remain with the responsible clinician
The illustration does not reproduce ASSIST items.
Report showcase
Designed to make evidence easy to review
The downloadable synthetic example illustrates report layout using invented response patterns, without patient data or instrument questions.
- Named instrument, version, and provenance
- Item-level response pattern without source wording
- Methodology, references, and clinical boundary
- Responsible clinician review rather than automated conclusions
Clinician review required
Methodology
Understand the measure and its scoring conventions
Each substance has its own score and there is no total. Tobacco sums questions 2, 3, 4, 6 and 7 on a published range of 0-31: Lower 0-3, Moderate 4-26, High 27-31. Alcohol also includes question 5, on a published range of 0-39: Lower 0-10, Moderate 11-26, High 27-39. Each other substance uses the same questions as alcohol, on a published range of 0-39: Lower 0-3, Moderate 4-26, High 27-39. Question 5 is not coded for tobacco. Injection is a separate clinical flag and is not added to a substance score.
References
- WHO ASSIST manualWorld Health Organization. The Alcohol, Smoking and Substance Involvement Screening Test (ASSIST): manual for use in primary care. 2010.
Questions
What clinics ask before they evaluate the WHO ASSIST
These answers stay inside educational catalogue scope. They do not replace official manuals or clinician judgement.
How is ASSIST scored?
Each substance has its own score. Tobacco is 0-31. Alcohol and the other substances use a published range of 0-39. There is no total score.
What are the risk levels?
The feedback card uses Lower, Moderate, and High. Tobacco is Lower at 0-3, Moderate at 4-26, and High at 27-31. Alcohol is Lower at 0-10, Moderate at 11-26, and High at 27-39. Other substances are Lower at 0-3, Moderate at 4-26, and High at 27-39.
Does it diagnose dependence?
No. It structures involvement information for clinician review.
Can I complete ASSIST here?
No. This landing does not collect answers. A clinician records the interview in the workspace.