Computerized assessment of depression and anxiety over the telephone usinginteractive voice response

We examined the reliability and validity of computer-administered versions of the Hamilton Depression (HAMD) and Hamilton Anxiety OL (HAMA) Rating Sca les that were administered over the telephone using Interactive Voice Respo nse (IVR). In two identical studies (HAMD:N = 113, HAMA: N = 74), both the IVR- and clinician-administered versions were administered in a counterbala nced order to a heterogeneous sample of subjects with psychiatric disorders and controls. Both the IVR HAMD and HAMA demonstrated adequate internal-co nsistency reliability (.90 and .93, respectively) and test-retest reliabili ty (.74 and .37, respectively). The correlation between the IVR and clinici an was high (HAMD = .96; HAMA = .65). The mean score difference between the IVR and clinician versions was less than one point for both the HAMD (.63 of a point) and HAMA (.60 of a point). It took subjects 12.23 minutes to co mplete the Mt HAMD, compared to 15.21 minutes for the clinician version; an d 11.27 minutes for the NR HAMA, compared to 15.33 minutes For the clinicia n (p < .001 For both comparisons). Subjects rated the clinician better in t he areas of how much they Liked being interviewed and how well they were ab le to describe their feelings. However, they were significantly more embarr assed with the clinician than with the IVR. Results support the psychometri c properties of the IVR versions of the HAMD and HAMA scales. IVR technolog y presents new opportunities for expanding the utility of computerized clin ical assessment.