TELEPHONE ASSESSMENT OF DEPRESSION SEVERITY

This report describes the adaptation of three common measures of depression severity, the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale, the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R, and selected items of the Symptom Checklist-90 for follow-up assessment by telephone. In a sample of 30 patients beginning antidepressant treatment, telephone and in-person assessment of current symptom severity produced nearly identical results for all three instruments.