title: Validation of computer-administered clinical rating scale: Hamilton Depression Rating Scale assessment with Interactive Voice Response technology--Japanese version.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to examine the reliability and validity of the Interactive Voice Response (IVR) program to rate the 17-item Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAM-D) score in Japanese depressive patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  Depression severity was assessed in 60 patients by a clinician and psychologists using HAM-D. Scoring by the IVR program was conducted on the same and the following days. Test-retest reliability, internal consistency, and concurrent validity for total HAM-D scores were examined by calculating intraclass correlation coefficient, Cronbach's alpha, and Pearson's correlation coefficient. Inter-rater consistency for each HAM-D item was examined by Cohen's kappa.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Test-retest reliability of the IVR program was high (intraclass correlation coefficient: 0.93). Internal consistency of each total score obtained by the clinician, psychologists, and IVR program was high (Cronbach's alpha: 0.77, 0.79, 0.78, and 0.83). Regarding concurrent validity, correlation coefficients between total scores obtained by the clinician versus IVR and that by the clinician versus psychologists were high (0.81 and 0.93). The HAM-D total score rated by the clinician was 3 points lower than that of IVR. Inter-rater consistency for each HAM-D item evaluated by the clinician versus IVR was estimated to be fair (Cohen's kappa coefficient: 0.02-0.50).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results suggest that the Japanese IVR HAM-D program is reliable and valid to assess 17-item HAM-D total score in Japanese depressive patients. However, the current program tends to overestimate depression severity, and the score of each item did not always show high agreement with clinician's rating, which warrants further improvement in the program.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mental Disorder Research, National Institute of Neuroscience, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kunugi
authors.forename: Norie
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Koga
authors.forename: Miyako
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hashikura
authors.forename: Takamasa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Noda
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shimizu
authors.forename: Takayuki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kobayashi
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yamanaka
authors.forename: Noriaki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kanemoto
authors.forename: Teruhiko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Higuchi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003201:Computers; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity