Cookies on this website

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you click 'Accept all cookies' we'll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies and you won't see this message again. If you click 'Reject all non-essential cookies' only necessary cookies providing core functionality such as security, network management, and accessibility will be enabled. Click 'Find out more' for information on how to change your cookie settings.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the acceptability to patients of a diagnostic interview for depression (Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV; SCID) conducted over the telephone to their homes. METHOD: Postal questionnaire survey of patients who had attended an oncology outpatient clinic where they had scored high on a screening questionnaire and had subsequently undergone an SCID interview over the telephone. RESULTS: Of the 224 patients telephoned, five refused the diagnostic interview. Of the 219 who were interviewed, 184 satisfactorily completed and returned the postal questionnaire (84% response rate). Only 17% reported the interview to be distressing. Ninety-four percent of all questionnaire respondents and 84% (n=31) of those who reported the interview to have been distressing endorsed the item "Had I known in advance what answering the questions would have been like for me, I would still have agreed to take part". Perceiving the interview as distressing was associated with having major depression (P<.001). Forty-seven percent said that, given the choice, they would have preferred a face-to-face interview. CONCLUSION: Telephone-administered diagnostic interviews are acceptable to most cancer patients and may even be preferred to face-to-face interviews at the hospital. This finding, together with the existing evidence of its validity, should encourage the use of telephone diagnostic interviews for depression, particularly when face-to-face interviews are impracticable, in both research studies and clinical practice. Indeed, a substantial proportion of patients may actually prefer them.

Type

Journal article

Journal

J Psychosom Res

Publication Date

10/2003

Volume

55

Pages

385 - 387

Keywords

Depressive Disorder, Diagnosis, Differential, Female, Humans, Interview, Psychological, Male, Middle Aged, Neoplasms, Outpatients, Reproducibility of Results, Sensitivity and Specificity, Telephone