Computer-aided interviewing in comprehensive behavioral assessment

A comprehensive behavioral assessment requires a vast amount of client information, but the time and effort to gather this information are major obstacles to preclude a broad-band assessment approach. The interactive computer, displaying questions by CRT video terminals to clients and accepting clients' responses or answers, is a device to save the clinician valuable time in collecting and organizing large quantities of self-report data. The present report describes a computerized problem screen to identify target behaviors in 26 life areas. Although the computer interview is lengthy, ranging from 4 to 10 hr, it is favorably received by clients and, in most instances, is preferred to the human interview.