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Bias in computerized neuropsychological assessment of depressive disorders caused by computer attitude
B Weber1, J Fritze, B Schneider
1Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy I, J. W. Goethe University, Frankfurt/Main, Germany. b.weber@em.uni-frankfurt.de
Objective:
Psychiatric patients are increasingly confronted to computerized psychological and psychopathological assessment. Patients' attitude to computers was reported to affect acceptance of computerized assessment.
Method:
In 78 psychiatric in-patients neuropsychological impairment was examined following admission on an open ward by conventional as well as computerized memory and attention tasks. Besides psychopathological assessment, self ratings of computer attitude and acceptance of the computerized assessment were completed.
Results:
A more negative attitude to computers was found to be significantly correlated to higher nervousness in patients' self report (R=0.38, P=0.0005) as well as to poorer results of computerized attention tasks (R=0.39, P=0.0007). Particularly in patients with depressive disorders computer attitude could be shown to explain 39% of the variance of attention performance.
Conclusion:
Results indicate a significant effect of negative computer attitude on acceptance and thus reliability of computerized examination, resulting in a bias in computerized attention-related assessment in patients with depressive disorders.