Bilingual computerized speech recognition screening for depression symptoms: Evaluating a cellular telephone prototype

The field study evaluated a bilingual computerized speech recognition cellular telephone prototype of the Center for Epidemiological Studies - Depression scale (CES-D 1.0). Thirty Spanish and 22 English speakers completed both computer-telephone and face-to-face CES-D methods and a verbal depression checklist in counterbalanced order. Both language groups reported high positive ratings for the computer-telephone method, but the English sample preferred the computer-telephone method. In both samples, the computer-telephone method yielded high internal consistency estimates, strong alternate form reliabilities, and similarly high correlations to the depression checklist. Both groups reported significantly elevated scores on the computer-telephone method, yet total score variances for both methods did not differ. Computer-telephone limitations included occasional misrecognitions and template training constraints.

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