title: The effect of computer-assisted interviewing on the clinical assessment of children.
abstract: This study investigated the effect of providing clinicians with a report from a computer-assisted interview conducted prior to the clinical assessment of children referred to a mental health service. The results suggest that the availability of reports from computer-assisted interviews influenced the type of problems identified by clinicians and the services that they recommended to manage the children's problems. It is suggested that reports from computer-assisted interviews could assist clinicians by collecting a broad range of clinical information describing the problems of clinic-referred children. It is also suggested that considerably more research is needed into the possible benefits of computer technology in child and adolescent mental health services.
authors.affiliation: Evaluation Unit, Adelaide Children's Hospital, South Australia.
authors.forename: M G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Sawyer
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sarris
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Baghurst
mesh_terms: D000124:Achievement; D000342:Affective Symptoms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D002648:Child; D002653:Child Behavior Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D003936:Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted / Q000295:instrumentation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007389:Internal-External Control; D007406:Interview, Psychological; D008297:Male; D008838:Microcomputers; D010552:Personality Assessment; D012931:Social Environment