A COMPUTER-BASED INTERVIEW TO IDENTIFY HIV RISK BEHAVIORS AND TO ASSESS PATIENT PREFERENCES FOR HIV-RELATED HEALTH STATES

We developed a computer-based utility assessment tool to assess the pr eferences of patients towards HIV-related health states and identify r isk behaviors (both sexual and drug related) of the patient being inte rviewed. The reliability of the computer-based interview was assessed through comparison with person-to-person interviews. Our pilot study i ncluded 22 patients. Twelve of these patients were also interviewed by the research assistants in person-to-person interviews. The agreement between the person-to-person and computer-based interviews was excell ent (3 discrepancies of 180 compared answers), and the majority of the patients preferred to use the computer to disclose sensitive informat ion regarding risk behaviors. Our study suggests that assessment of pa tient preferences and risk factors can be performed reliably through a computer-based interview.