Project Summary

Leslie Born, M.Sc., Ph.D. (Young Investigator 2006) of St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton, McMaster University, wants to develop better tools to diagnose mental illness in women. Available criteria for diagnosing mental illness do not address the complexity in women of the menstrual cycle, childbearing, or perimenopause. As such, the goals of this proposal are to modify the Composite International Diagnostic Interview, a structured diagnostic interview, to include features of psychiatric disorders that are specific to women, and to streamline the interview for greater efficiency as a clinical, rather than a strictly research,tool. A first draft of the modified interview will be tested on 10 subjects presenting with mood disorders related to their menstrual cycle, childbearing, or perimenopause. After debriefing and changes, the interview will be tested at three sites, with at least 20 subjects at each site. A retesting to confirm diagnoses using new interviewers will occur one to three days later. The validation of this female-specific diagnostic tool should improve the identification of depression and other mental illnesses in women.

Program Area: MOOD DISORDERS\Unipolar

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