CONCURRENT VALIDITY OF A TELEPHONE-ADMINISTERED VERSION OF THE GOSPELOAK INSTRUMENT (INCLUDING THE SHORT-CARE)

Objective. The aim of the study was to establish the concurrent validi ty of a telephone-administered version of the survey measures utilized in the Gospel Oak studies, the core of which was the SHORT-CARE. Desi gn. Comparisons were made between data obtained by administering the i nterview in its conventional, face-to-face form with those generated b y conducting it by telephone. Setting. A UK teaching hospital. Patient s. Elderly subjects of both sexes, recruited from geriatric and psycho geriatric day hospitals. Measures. The Depression Diagnostic Scale, De mentia Diagnostic Scale and Organic Brain Syndrome scale (all taken fr om the SHORT-CARE) and the London Handicap Scale. Results. For depress ive symptomatology, cognitive impairment, subjective memory impairment and handicap, intraclass correlations were 0.86, 0.89, 0.83 and 0.70, respectively. The kappa coefficient for agreement on case-level diagn osis of pervasive depression was 0.79. Conclusions. These results indi cate that the instrument is broadly reliable when administered by tele phone. (C) 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.