Comparability between telephone and face-to-face structured clinical interview for DSM-IV in assessing social anxiety disorder.
OBJECTIVE
This article evaluates the comparability of the telephone and in-person Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (SCID) interviews in assessing patients with social anxiety disorder (SAD) as an independent anxiety diagnosis.


METHODS
One hundred subjects were randomly selected and interviewed with the SCID, once by telephone and once in person (1-3 months later).


RESULTS
The prevalence of SAD assessed with the telephone interviews was 56%, whereas the in-person prevalence was 52%, with no statistically significant difference. The test-retest kappa for the 200 interviews was .84, indication of excellent agreement.


CONCLUSIONS
These findings, along with the existing evidence of their validity, should encourage the use of SCID by telephone for SAD diagnostic interviews.
Crippa
José Alexandre S
JA
Department of Neuropsychiatry and Medical Psychology, Faculty of Medicine of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil. jcrippa@fmrp.usp.br
de Lima Osório
Flávia
F
Del-Ben
Cristina Marta
CM
Filho
Alaor Santos
AS
da Silva Freitas
Maria Cecília
MC
Loureiro
Sonia Regina
SR
D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007406:Interview, Psychological; D008297:Male; D010698:Phobic Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D013689:Telephone; D055815:Young Adult