Can a computer reliably elicit an alcohol history?

Area of Science:

• Medical Informatics
• Psychiatry
• Alcohol Use Disorders

Background:

• Accurate assessment of patient drinking history is crucial for diagnosing alcohol-related illnesses.
• Traditional methods rely on clinician interviews, which can be time-consuming and subject to inter-rater variability.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the accuracy and reliability of computer-administered interviews for collecting patient drinking histories.
• To compare computer-based assessments with traditional nurse and psychiatrist interviews.

Main Methods:

• 102 patients' drinking histories were collected using a computer interview.
• A subset of 48 patients were also interviewed by a psychiatrist.
• Inter-rater reliability was assessed by comparing computer, nurse, and psychiatrist data.

Main Results:

• The computer interview demonstrated high agreement with both nurse and psychiatrist interviews.
• Agreement was better for dichotomous (yes/no) questions than for continuous data like alcohol volume.
• Agreement for alcohol volume met or exceeded previously reported inter-rater reliability benchmarks.

Conclusions:

• Computer-administered interviews are a viable and accurate method for assessing patient drinking habits.
• This technology holds potential for improving the detection of alcohol-related illnesses in clinical practice.
• Computer interviews offer a reliable alternative or supplement to traditional clinician-led assessments.