BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The documentation and reporting system of clients of Austrian drug treatment services (DOKLI) has been providing nationwide valid data in the drug treatment sector in Austria since 2006. It contributes to an overall understanding of the addiction epidemiological situation in Austria. The system operates with the participation of most addiction treatment facilities in Austria and serves as a crucial cornerstone in national monitoring. Comparable data to DOKLI are lacking for areas such as tobacco and other nicotine‐containing
products, alcohol, gambling and/or sports betting, gaming, and medications. Therefore, one of the objectives of treatment documentation in the addiction field is to provide a nationally standardized data collection tool with coordinated documentation standards across various substance
and behavior‐based addiction forms. ***METHODOLOGY: The foundation of this work lies in a questionnaire developed through a lengthy process involving Austrian addiction treatment facilities. This questionnaire aligns with the EMCDDA guidelines specific to the data collected for illegal drugs. Experts from provincial addiction/drug coordination
offices as well as treatment facilities provided critical feedback on the proposed new items and specific questions. Through intensive exchange of ideas and content, significant proposed changes were developed and approved during a DOKLI advisory board meeting in May 2022. ***RESULTS: Treatment documentation standards for substance and behavioral addictions have been developed in six areas: illegal drugs, tobacco and other nicotine‐containing products, alcohol, gambling and/or sports betting, gaming, and medications. Each documentation standard includes seven components that are repeated for each of the defined substance and behavioral addictions: a) basic data, b) treatment episode, c) situation at the beginning of treatment, d)sociodemographic and living circumstances, e) medical history, f) classification according to ICD‐10, and g) situation at the end of treatment episode. ***OUTLOOK: The core items developed as part of this project are intended to form the basis for a wide range of treatment documentation systems at the facility level, establishing them as nationwide minimum standards in Austria. A well‐founded, nationally standardized, and interdisciplinary moni­toring system should, in the future, provide the basis for a realistic assessment of the epidemiological situation regarding addiction and enable empirically based planning and (further) development of drug and addiction‐related strategies and (prevention) measures.