Comparability Between Telephone and Face-to-Face Structured Clinical Interview for DSM–IV in Assessing Social Anxiety Disorder

Crippa, José Alexandre S. MDPhD
de Lima Osório, Flávia PhD
Del-Ben, Cristina Marta MDPhD
Filho, Alaor Santos MD
da Silva Freitas, Maria Cecília MD
Loureiro, Sonia Regina PhD

José Alexandre S. Crippa, MD, PhD, is a Professor, Flávia de Lima Osório, PhD, is a Research Assistant, Cristina Marta Del-Ben, MD, PhD, is a Professor, Alaor Santos Filho, MD, is a postgraduate student, Maria Cecília da Silva Freitas Ferrari, MD, is a postgraduate student, and Sonia Regina Loureiro, PhD, is a Professor, all are from the Department of Neuropsychiatry and Medical Psychology, Faculty of Medicine of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.

Author contact: [email protected], with a copy to the Editor: [email protected]

Perspectives in Psychiatric Care 44(4):p 241-247, October 2008.

PURPOSE

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.

DESIGN AND METHODS

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

FINDINGS

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.

PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS

These findings, along with the existing evidence of their validity, should encourage the use of SCID by telephone for SAD diagnostic interviews.