Acceptability of a computer-administered psychiatric interview

摘要

A computerized version of the Present State Examination was developed and administered to 29 patients sitting at a terminal. Each subject was also interviewed by a doctor. After both interviews, patient acceptability of the computer interview was assessed. Subjects were asked to respond to number of objectively evaluated attitude statements expressing favorable or unfavorable attitudes to computer interviewing. A second objective scale (a ‘semantic differential scale’) was also administered, and patients were invited to describe their experience of the computer assessment in their own words. Patients were finally asked to state outright whether they had preferred the doctor or the computer. Patient acceptability was found to be high, with over 85% of the sample having favorable attitudes towards the computer.