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Use of video conferencing for psychiatric and forensic evaluations
Frances J Lexcen1, Gary L Hawk, Steve Herrick
1Child Study and Treatment Center, Washington 98498, USA. lexcefj@dshs.wa.gov
Objective:
This study investigated whether the quality of results from video interviews is comparable with that of in-person interviews.
Methods:
Interrater reliabilities for two video conference interview conditions were compared with those for in-person interviews with the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale-Anchored Version and the MacArthur Competence Assessment Tool-Criminal Adjudication, given to 72 forensic inpatients. The video conditions included in-person and remote interviewers. In the first condition, an in-person interviewer administered the instruments, with remote observation and scoring. The second condition entailed remote administration and an in-person observer. The third condition used an in-person interviewer and observer.
Results:
Good to excellent reliabilities resulted from all conditions with intraclass correlations of .69 to .82.
Conclusions:
Results suggest that providers can expect remote interviews to provide clinical information similar to that obtained by in-person interviews.
