The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA

Abstract #66749

Marjorie F. Goldstein, PhD, National Development and Research Institutes, Inc, 71 West 23 Street, New York, NY 10010, 212-845-4469, goldstein@ndri.org, Elizabeth A. Eckhardt, CSW, Deaf Research Projects, National Development & Research Institutes, Inc., 71 West 23rd Street, 8th Floor, New York, NY 10010, and Annie Steinberg, MD, Psychiatry, Children's Hospital of Pennsylvania, 71 West 23rd Street, 8th floor, New York, NY 10010.

Deaf people experience the same types of mental health problems as do others; however few diagnostic instruments are available for them in American Sign Language (ASL). This paper reports on the results of a field trial of a self-administered, computerized ASL version of seven sections of the Diagnostic Interview Schedule-IV, a fully-structured diagnostic instrument which utilizes a hierarchical question format. Sixty deaf subjects were recruited from mental health settings and were tested twice: once with a self-administered computerized version and once by an ASL fluent clinician using a computer-assisted version. Percent agreement, kappa statistic, sensitivity and specificity between the two versions were evaluated per diagnosis. Percent agreement varied between diagnostic sections (range: 54% to 100%) Kappa values ranged from -.08 to 1.0. The Alcohol Abuse section had the highest percent agreement and kappa. Cronbach’s alpha for items in the depression section was .87 for the self-administered and .69, for the interviewer-administered section. While ASL-based self- administered instruments show promise, the hierarchical nature of the DIS may make it less suitable than a psychometric instrument for deaf individuals.

Learning Objectives:

• 1. Understand difficulties encountered when testing an ASL version of the DIS-IV in ASL with individuals who are deaf.
• 2. Understand difficulties in determining the most effective assessment instruments to use with individuals who are deaf.
• 3. Understand cross-cultural implications of using existing standardized measures with deaf persons who are members of a linguistic minority culture.

Keywords: Assessments, Deaf

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: Social Science Innovations Corp.
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.