Diagnosis Reliability

Question 1

What evidence is there to suggest that diagnosis has a low reliability?

Answer 1

• Copeland et al conducted an experiment where descriptions of a Schizophrenic were given to 134 US and 194 UK psychiatrists and asked to diagnose them. 69% of US psychiatrists diagnosed with Schizophrenia and 2% of the UK psychiatrists did. Therefore there is a low inter-rater reliability
• Cheniaux et al had two psychologists use DSM and ICD to diganose 100 patients and both diagnosed more using ICD therefore low reliablity (lack of consistancy between manuals)

Question 2

What is inter-rater reliability?

Answer 2

whether or not at least 2 clinicians can produce the same diagnosis for a paitent

Question 3

What is test-retest reliability?

Answer 3

Whether or not clinicians can come to the same conclusions at a different time

Question 4

What causes a low reliability in diagnosis?

Answer 4

• fluctuating symptoms
• different manuals
• subjective reports