Monash Interview for Liaison Psychiatry (MILP). Development, reliability, and procedural validity

The Monash Interview for Liaison Psychiatry (MILP) is a structured interview designed for use with patients who have physical and psychiatric comorbidity. Linked to a computerized diagnostic algorithm, the MILP is able to establish diagnoses according to DSM-III-R, International Classification of Diseases--10th Edition (ICD-10), and DSM-IV criteria, as well as a range of other criteria relevant to consultation-liaison psychiatry. Interrater reliability was assessed with 54 joint interviews, in which the mean kappa for agreement of items was 0.83 and of diagnoses was 0.68. Comparative procedural validity was tested against DSM-III-R decision-tree diagnoses, ICD-10 checklist diagnoses, and Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R interview diagnoses on another sample of 54 patients. Mean kappas for these comparisons were 0.61, 0.56, and 0.31, respectively. As predicted, the MILP more fully covered the spectrum of somatizing disorders, compared with the other methods for establishing diagnoses.