William G Axinn1, Stephanie Chardoul1, Heather Gatny1, Dirgha J Ghimire1, Jordan W Smoller2,3, Yang Zhang1, Kate M Scott4. 1. Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, 426 Thompson St, Ann Arbor, MI48104-2321, USA. 2. Department of Psychiatry and Psychiatric and Neurodevelopmental Genetics Unit, Harvard Medical School; Center for Genomic Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA. 3. Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA. 4. Department of Psychological Medicine, Dunedin School of Medicine, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Retrospective reports of lifetime experience with mental disorders greatly underestimate the actual experiences of disorder because recall error biases reporting of earlier life symptoms downward. This fundamental obstacle to accurate reporting has many adverse consequences for the study and treatment of mental disorders. Better tools for accurate retrospective reporting of mental disorder symptoms have the potential for broad scientific benefits. METHODS: We designed a life history calendar (LHC) to support this task, and randomized more than 1000 individuals to each arm of a retrospective diagnostic interview with and without the LHC. We also conducted a careful validation with the Structured Clinical Interview for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-Fourth Edition. RESULTS: Results demonstrate that-just as with frequent measurement longitudinal studies-use of an LHC in retrospective measurement can more than double reports of lifetime experience of some mental disorders. CONCLUSIONS: The LHC significantly improves retrospective reporting of mental disorders. This tool is practical for application in both large cross-sectional surveys of the general population and clinical intake of new patients.
BACKGROUND: Retrospective reports of lifetime experience with mental disorders greatly underestimate the actual experiences of disorder because recall error biases reporting of earlier life symptoms downward. This fundamental obstacle to accurate reporting has many adverse consequences for the study and treatment of mental disorders. Better tools for accurate retrospective reporting of mental disorder symptoms have the potential for broad scientific benefits. METHODS: We designed a life history calendar (LHC) to support this task, and randomized more than 1000 individuals to each arm of a retrospective diagnostic interview with and without the LHC. We also conducted a careful validation with the Structured Clinical Interview for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-Fourth Edition. RESULTS: Results demonstrate that-just as with frequent measurement longitudinal studies-use of an LHC in retrospective measurement can more than double reports of lifetime experience of some mental disorders. CONCLUSIONS: The LHC significantly improves retrospective reporting of mental disorders. This tool is practical for application in both large cross-sectional surveys of the general population and clinical intake of new patients.
Entities:
Keywords:
CIDI; Life History Calendar; disorder under-reporting; lifetime prevalence; recall; retrospective reporting
Authors: Ronald C Kessler; Patcho N Santiago; Lisa J Colpe; Catherine L Dempsey; Michael B First; Steven G Heeringa; Murray B Stein; Carol S Fullerton; Michael J Gruber; James A Naifeh; Matthew K Nock; Nancy A Sampson; Michael Schoenbaum; Alan M Zaslavsky; Robert J Ursano Journal: Int J Methods Psychiatr Res Date: 2013-12 Impact factor: 4.035
Authors: William G Axinn; Dirgha J Ghimire; Nathalie E Williams; Kate M Scott Journal: Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol Date: 2015-03-22 Impact factor: 4.328
Authors: Dirgha J Ghimire; Stephanie Chardoul; Ronald C Kessler; William G Axinn; Bishnu P Adhikari Journal: Int J Methods Psychiatr Res Date: 2013-03-13 Impact factor: 4.035
Authors: Ronald C Kessler; Shelli Avenevoli; Jennifer Green; Michael J Gruber; Margaret Guyer; Yulei He; Robert Jin; Joan Kaufman; Nancy A Sampson; Alan M Zaslavsky; Kathleen R Merikangas Journal: J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry Date: 2009-04 Impact factor: 8.829
Authors: William G Axinn; Yang Zhang; Dirgha J Ghimire; Stephanie A Chardoul; Kate M Scott; Ronny Bruffaerts Journal: J Affect Disord Date: 2020-01-15 Impact factor: 4.839
Authors: Avshalom Caspi; Renate M Houts; Antony Ambler; Andrea Danese; Maxwell L Elliott; Ahmad Hariri; HonaLee Harrington; Sean Hogan; Richie Poulton; Sandhya Ramrakha; Line J Hartmann Rasmussen; Aaron Reuben; Leah Richmond-Rakerd; Karen Sugden; Jasmin Wertz; Benjamin S Williams; Terrie E Moffitt Journal: JAMA Netw Open Date: 2020-04-01
Authors: Robin Leora Aupperle; Martin P Paulus; Rayus Kuplicki; James Touthang; Teresa Victor; Hung-Wen Yeh; Sahib S Khalsa Journal: JMIR Ment Health Date: 2020-01-28
Authors: Corina Benjet; William G Axinn; Sabrina Hermosilla; Paul Schulz; Faith Cole; Laura Sampson; Dirgha Ghimire Journal: JAMA Netw Open Date: 2020-11-02