The authors, as part of the ongoing NIMH Collaborative Study on the
Psychobiology of Depression, used an analysis of variance design and
videotaped interviews to explore the effects of sources of variance on the
reliability of the measures being used by the NIMH study. In spite of
substantial differences among interviewers in background or orientation,
the authors found that diagnoses and symptom ratings were made with a high
level of reliability. These results suggest that the use of structured
interviews and diagnostic criteria, when combined with a careful and
systematic training program, can lead to good levels of diagnostic
reliability.Abstract Teaser