OBJECTIVE: Clinical diagnosis has been shown to be unreliable compared to structured diagnostic schedules. However, clinicians rarely use structured diagnostic schedules due to concerns about the feasibility in clinical practice and about patient acceptance. Mini International Neuropsychiatric Schedule is a short diagnostic instrument validated against SCID and CIDI but its feasibility and patient acceptance has not been studied. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: One hundred and eleven patients admitted to a partial program were administered Mini International Neuropsychiatric Schedule and the interview was timed. A short questionnaire was administered to assess patients' views about the interview. For a subgroup of patients, diagnoses by both open interviews and Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI) were available. These were compared to look for agreement in primary diagnoses and co-morbid conditions. RESULTS: MINI took an average of 16.4 min to administer. Patients' views of MINI were positive. It was considered comprehensive enough to cover all patient symptoms and at the same time not unduly lengthy. Patients were not bothered by the interview format. There was disagreement between MINI primary diagnosis and open diagnosis in 42% cases. In 33% the disagreement was of substantial clinical significance. MINI diagnosed more co-morbid conditions (average 2.05 compared to 0.5 in open interview). CONCLUSIONS: MINI is a short diagnostic interview schedule that can be easily incorporated into routine clinical interviews. It has good acceptance by patients.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2003

Racial bias in the prescription atypical of antipsychotics?

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Adolescent↗

PubMed2003

Severity and internal consistency of self-reported anxiety in psychotic outpatients.

To assess the severity of self-reported anxiety in psychiatric adult outpatients (> or = 18 yr. old) who were diagnosed with psychotic disorders, the Beck Anxiety Inventory was administered to 55 (50%) women and 55 (50%) men who were diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, schizoaffective, or delusional disorders. The internal consistency of the scores was high (coefficient alpha=.92), and the scores were not significantly correlated with sex, being Euro-American, or age. Furthermore, the mean cores of the three diagnostic groups were comparable. Based on the interpretive cut-off score guidelines given in the manual, 24% of the patients were mildly anxious, 22% were moderately anxious, and 18% were severely anxious. The results are discussed as indicating that there is a high prevalence of self-reported anxiety in outpatients who are diagnosed with psychotic disorders.

Ambulatory Care↗