Acceptance of computerized compared to paper-and-pencil assessment in psychiatric inpatients

Abstract In recent years various approaches to the application of computerized assessment in psychiatry have been reported. Patients’ acceptance is important for reliability and validity of results. Comparisons with conventional paper-and-pencil tests are missing. The present study aimed to investigate the acceptance of computerized assessment, particularly compared to conventional paper-and-pencil techniques, in seriously impaired psychiatric inpatients. For this purpose a questionnaire (OPQ) was developed by the authors and evaluated in 135 psychiatric inpatients. Seventy-eight of these patients completed a set of neuropsychological and psychopathological assessments two times, once using the conventional approach and additionally using a computer version. Their OPQ results were analyzed, in the total sample as well as in diagnostic subgroups. Although the psychiatric patients had some problems in dealing with the computer, computerized assessment was convincingly well accepted and even superior to conventional paper-and-pencil techniques. Overall only few differences were found between diagnostic subgroups, indicating a higher relevance of computer attitude in depressive disorders. General skepticism concerning the feasibility of computerized assessment in psychiatric inpatients appears to be unjustified.

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