PLoS ONE (Jan 2012)

Single-item screening for agoraphobic symptoms: validation of a web-based audiovisual screening instrument.

  • Wouter van Ballegooijen,
  • Heleen Riper,
  • Tara Donker,
  • Katherina Martin Abello,
  • Isaac Marks,
  • Pim Cuijpers

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0038480
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 7, no. 7
p. e38480

Abstract

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The advent of web-based treatments for anxiety disorders creates a need for quick and valid online screening instruments, suitable for a range of social groups. This study validates a single-item multimedia screening instrument for agoraphobia, part of the Visual Screener for Common Mental Disorders (VS-CMD), and compares it with the text-based agoraphobia items of the PDSS-SR. The study concerned 85 subjects in an RCT of the effects of web-based therapy for panic symptoms. The VS-CMD item and items 4 and 5 of the PDSS-SR were validated by comparing scores to the outcomes of the CIDI diagnostic interview. Screening for agoraphobia was found moderately valid for both the multimedia item (sensitivity.81, specificity.66, AUC.734) and the text-based items (AUC.607-.697). Single-item multimedia screening for anxiety disorders should be further developed and tested in the general population and in patient, illiterate and immigrant samples.