Interviewing as communication: An alternative way of administering the diagnostic interview schedule for children

Parents of 24 children referred to an outpatient psychology clinic (mean ch ild age 10.8, range 6-15) were administered the Diagnostic Interview Schedu le for Children Version 2.3 (DSIC-2.3) twice in a I-week test-retest reliab ility design (mean retesting interval = 7.5 days, range = 6-11 days). An al ternative mode of administration of the DISC, based on communication princi ples, was used, involving (a) a schematic representation of the areas to be covered; (b) definition of a common language for the categories, diagnoses , and criteria; and (c) the respondent being allowed to select the order in which the diagnostic areas were covered. The DISC items and modules were u nchanged. Symptom scores derived from the DISC were highly reliable over 1 week (average ICC =.85, range =.67-.95) and showed no attenuation from Time 1 to Ti me 2. Reliability of DSM diagnoses averaged kappa =.80 (range =.63 -1.0). There was no significant attenuation in diagnoses from Time 1 to Tim e 2. Overall, this alternative way of administering the DISC appears to hav e promise for reducing attenuation and boosting the reliability-and ultimat ely the validity-of child psychiatric diagnoses. Further investigations of the mechanisms underlying these effects, and further studies with child and adolescent respondents and nonreferred community samples are recommended.