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Behavioral Assessment information, a more general form of Problem-Oriented Record data, appears to have many useful clinical qualities and was selected to be the information content for a computer interview system. This interview system was designed to assess problematic behaviors of psychiatric patients. The computer interview covered 29 life problem areas and took patients from four to eight hours to complete. In two reliability studies, the computer interview was compared to human interviews. A greater number of general and specific patient problems were identified in the computer interview than in the human interviews. The attitudes of computer patients and clinicians receiving the computer reports were surveyed.

In a mental health program, a comprehensive computer interview screened adult clients on 28 life problem areas. The computer information was used to compile a standard Problem Oriented Record (FOR) problem list. The majority of clients indicated that the computer interview was a positive experience, and many found it preferable to a human interview. Raters audited the case records of 55 clients and compared the problems found in the records with those indicated by the computer. The computer was found to identify more problem areas and specific problems than human interviewers. On 20 "critical" problem categories, the interviewers failed to report approximately 3 out of every 4 client problems reported by the computer.Researchers and program administrators are strong advocates of the informationprocessing computer, having discovered that routine tasks are completed more efficiently and with less effort by automation. Clinicians, however, have resisted using computers or finding ways that computer technology can serve their clinical interests and needs. This article describes the operation of computer-aided interviewing in a communtiy mental health center. Unlike other psychiatric information systems, which generally support research and administrative functions, the present system aids clinicians in performing the task of interviewing. In computer-aided interviewing, a low cost, minicomputer (PDF 11/40), connected to a cathode-ray tube (CRT) terminal, presents multiple-choice questions to clients and records their answers.Computer interviewing may yield many clinical advantages. The interviewing computer saves the clinician time in collecting information and thus frees personnel for actual delivery of care (Mayne, Weksel, & Sholtz, 1968). Similarly, the interviewing computer can reduce the long waiting lists for treatment and ease the shortage of skilled mental health workers (Coddington & King, 1972). The interviewing computer insures data compatibility by eliminating biases of different interviewers and different interviewing techniques (Stillman, Roth, Colby, & Rosenbaum, 1969). Information that the client has trouble telling but wants the therapist to know is more easily given through the computer (Slack & Van Cura, 1968). Finally, the interviewing computer can improve the legibility and standardization of client records and thus aid efficient transmission of data, as well as support evaluation research (Maultsby & Slack, 1971). These benefits are possible solutions to the clinical, record keeping, and heavy caseload concerns of clinicians. Development of the Interviewing ComputerAn automated interviewing system that is designed to gather psychiatric diagnostic data and to generate diagnostic labels may have little direct treatment application. The

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Sequential dependencies were investigated with two rats in a mixed and in a tandem differential-reinforcement-of-low-rate-responding schedule. In each schedule, 5-sec and 15-sec components were presented in fixed alternation. In the mixed schedule, a 5-sec interresponse time followed a 15-sec interresponse time and a 15-sec interresponse time followed a 5-sec interresponse time in predictable sequence. The correlation between prior and subsequent interresponse times, however, existed only when the prior interresponse time resulted in reinforcement. In the tandem schedule, an interresponse time greater than 5 sec in the differential-reinforcement-of-low-rate 5-sec component was not associated directly with reinforcement. One subject demonstrated sequential response patterns similar to those noted in the mixed schedule, even though the prior 5-sec interresponse time was not reinforced in the tandem schedule. The results indicate that the prior interresponse time length alone is not sufficient to influence the subsequent interresponse time length. Implications are, however, that a temporal response pattern arises when an interresponse interacts with schedule contingencies to control the interreinforcement interval.