THE PSYCHOMETRIC PROPERTIES OF THE COMPOSITE INTERNATIONAL DIAGNOSTICINTERVIEW

The Composite International Diagnostic Interview, or CIDI, is a fully structured interview that maps the symptoms elicited during the interv iew onto DSM-IV and ICD-10 diagnostic criteria and reports whether the diagnostic criteria are satisfied - nothing more. nothing less. The i nter-rater reliability has been demonstrated to be excellent, the test -retest reliability good, and the validity has been demonstrated to be good, given the methodological constraints. The CIDI is available in lifetime and 12-month versions, and in both paper-and-pencil and compu ter-administered forms. The latter version is suitable for self-admini stration in cooperative subjects. The CIDI is available in many langua ges. It is supported by ten centres around the world, which conduct re gular training programmes for interviewers. The training programmes ar e standardised and the training materials are comprehensive. The data from the CIDI is entered into standard data entry and scoring programm es that give as output the diagnostic criteria satisfied. The intervie ws, the training materials. and the scoring programmes are copyright b y the World Health Organization (WHO) and are supervised by an advisor y committee on behalf of WHO. That committee and the training centres welcome enquiries from researchers and clinicians who are interested i n using the CIDI.