Validity of the computerized DIS for diagnosing psychiatric inpatients

The validity of a self-administered, computerized version of the National Institute of Mental Health Diagnostic Interview Schedule (DIS) was evaluated with a group of 41 psychiatric inpatients. Each patient was administered the computerized DIS (C-DIS) and a semi-structured clinical interview using the symptom checklist developed by Helzer et al. The concordance between the C-DIS and symptom checklist was comparable to that found in earlier studies of the original DIS. The overall distribution of kappas was also similar to those of previous studies. Overall, the results suggest that computerized administration may be a feasible alternative to face-to-face administration of the DIS.