Mental Health Evaluations in the Emergency Setting

a?c The CARS is based on the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI), a validated instrument for assessing mental health diagnoses (2). According to the CARS manual, "The Computerized Assessment and Referral System (CARS) is the result of a collaboration between the Division on Addiction and the Foundation for Advancing Alcohol Responsibility, a nonprofit organization with a focus on preventing driving under the influence (DUI). CARS adapts questions from the internationally-recognized Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI), a tool designed for lay interviewers who may not have expertise or training in mental health assessment." CARS was piloted at 6 different sites in 2016, all in DUI populations. As CARS has not been specifically validated on non-DUI populations, investigators will collect alcohol history (see below). The CARS self-assessment version (CARS-SA) will be utilized in this study.