TY - JOUR KW - Adolescent KW - Adult KW - Age Factors KW - Aged KW - Aged, 80 and over KW - England KW - Female KW - Humans KW - Interview, Psychological/methods KW - Male KW - Mental Disorders/diagnosis KW - Middle Aged KW - Primary Health Care KW - Psychiatric Status Rating Scales/statistics & numerical data KW - Self-Assessment KW - Sex Factors KW - Telephone/utilization AU - M. Evans AU - D. Kessler AU - G. Lewis AU - T. J. Peters AU - D. Sharp A1 - AB - BACKGROUND: Telephone interviewing has economic and logistical advantages but has not been widely used in the UK. Most studies comparing face-to-face and telephone psychiatric assessment have been carried out in the US, often restricted to a population with known psychiatric disorder and involving comparisons between two separate sample groups rather than repeat interviews with the same group. The aim of the present study was to compare face-to-face and telephone administration of the 12-item General Health Questionnaire and the Revised Clinical Interview Schedule in a UK general practice sample. METHOD: Ninety-eight consecutive attenders at two general practices were assessed twice within 48 h. The order of face-to-face and telephone interviews was alternated. RESULTS: There was no evidence that the mode of administration led to a bias in scores on the CIS-R. For the GHQ, those aged over 60 tended to score higher on the telephone. There was good agreement between face-to-face and telephone scores for both GHQ and CIS-R and good agreement for case definition. Participants had a strong preference for face-to-face interviews. CONCLUSIONS: Telephone assessment of mental health using the GHQ and CIS-R is a reasonable method to be used in primary care research in the UK with the limitation that telephone responses from older people might be different from face-to-face assessments for the GHQ. However, telephone interviewing appeared less acceptable and should probably be used in the context of established or ongoing personal contact between researcher and subject. BT - Psychological medicine C5 - HIT & Telehealth CP - 1 CY - England IS - 1 JF - Psychological medicine N2 - BACKGROUND: Telephone interviewing has economic and logistical advantages but has not been widely used in the UK. Most studies comparing face-to-face and telephone psychiatric assessment have been carried out in the US, often restricted to a population with known psychiatric disorder and involving comparisons between two separate sample groups rather than repeat interviews with the same group. The aim of the present study was to compare face-to-face and telephone administration of the 12-item General Health Questionnaire and the Revised Clinical Interview Schedule in a UK general practice sample. METHOD: Ninety-eight consecutive attenders at two general practices were assessed twice within 48 h. The order of face-to-face and telephone interviews was alternated. RESULTS: There was no evidence that the mode of administration led to a bias in scores on the CIS-R. For the GHQ, those aged over 60 tended to score higher on the telephone. There was good agreement between face-to-face and telephone scores for both GHQ and CIS-R and good agreement for case definition. Participants had a strong preference for face-to-face interviews. CONCLUSIONS: Telephone assessment of mental health using the GHQ and CIS-R is a reasonable method to be used in primary care research in the UK with the limitation that telephone responses from older people might be different from face-to-face assessments for the GHQ. However, telephone interviewing appeared less acceptable and should probably be used in the context of established or ongoing personal contact between researcher and subject. PP - England PY - 2004 SN - 0033-2917; 0033-2917 SP - 157 EP - 162 EP - T1 - Assessing mental health in primary care research using standardized scales: can it be carried out over the telephone? T2 - Psychological medicine TI - Assessing mental health in primary care research using standardized scales: can it be carried out over the telephone? U1 - HIT & Telehealth U2 - 14971636 VL - 34 VO - 0033-2917; 0033-2917 Y1 - 2004 ER -