A Comparison of Self-report and Clinical Diagnostic Interviews for Depression

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Abstract
AN IMPORTANT justification for the Epidemiologic Catchment Area (ECA) program, and the "third generation" of psychiatric epidemiology ushered in by the program, was the purported ability to link results from epidemiologic research to results from research conducted in laboratories and clinics.1-3 The link was made possible by the structure of the Diagnostic Interview Schedule (DIS),4 which was designed to generate information of the type obtained in a psychiatric interview. A potential weakness of the DIS was its reliance on the judgments and insights of the respondent instead of a psychiatrist. Validation studies in medical settings have shown good agreement between the DIS and a clinical interview4; however, validation studies conducted in the context of household surveys show weaker agreement.5,6

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