A NEW INTERVIEW FOR THE MULTIAXIAL ASSESSMENT OF PSYCHIATRIC MORBIDITY IN MEDICAL SETTINGS

A new semistructured instrument, the Standardized Polyvalent Psychiatr ic Interview or SPPI has been developed primarily for assessing medica l patients. It has been built on the Clinical Interview Schedule and i s intended to evaluate individuals in a multiaxial schema: psychopatho logy, including duration and severity of disorder; somatic disturbance ; social problems and social supports: and pre-morbid personality, wit h especial emphasis on 'neuroticism'. The SPPI generates enough inform ation to allow the use of different research diagnostic criteria, incl uding DSM-III-R, ICD-10 and Goldberg's criteria of 'attribution' of so matic symptoms and 'relationships between psychiatric and physical dis order'. It also includes a section related to recommended treatment. T he new interview fulfils standards of feasibility, face and content va lidity. An incomplete block design, inter-rater reliability study was carried out with a consecutive sample of 48 out-patients referred to t he Psychosomatic-Liaison Service of the University Hospital of Zaragoz a. A broad range of agreement coefficients were calculated, the result s being quite acceptable (most kappas are in the range from 0.7 to 0.9 ) and tending to support the procedural validity of the interview.