OBJECTIVE: To identify and review tools used in specialized services to explore aspectos of motivation as a predictive factor of treatment outcome in drug-abusing patients. METHOD: Comprehensive literature review of scales used to assess the degree of motivation. RESULT: Four scales to evaluate stages of behavioural change related to motivation were identified and described, together with their associated psychometric properties - Rhode Island Change Assessment Questionnaire (URICA), Stages of Change Readiness and Treatment Eargness Scale (SOCRATES), Treatment Motivation Questionnaire (TMQ), Readiness to Change Questionnaire (RCQ); The first two have Portuguese validated versions. CONCLUSION: Motivacional theory has been regularly studied in the last decade, allowing the definition of pragmatic evaluation parameters in scales with validity and reliabilities that vary from good to excellent.
Drug dependence; motivation; motivational interview; scales