Pilot study of televideo psychiatric assessments in an underserviced community

Objective: The goal of this study was to evaluate patient and physician acc eptance of televideo interviews for general psychiatric assessments. Method : DSM-III-R diagnoses for axes I and II were made for 40 patients by using the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R. The patients were then ran domly assigned to face-to-face or televideo interviews for general psychiat ric assessments conducted by psychiatrists. After each interview the patien t and psychiatrist completed measures evaluating perceived rapport and leve l of satisfaction with the interview. Results: The patients gave high ratin gs to both satisfaction and ability to develop rapport for both the televid eo and face-to-face interviews. The psychiatrists expressed significantly l ess satisfaction with the televideo interviews, but their actual ratings we re positive. Conclusions: Despite geographic distance, televideo interviews allow a sense of connection between patient and psychiatrist. Lower-cost t echnology may increase the use of televideo to extend psychiatric service t o geographically isolated communities.