Recording Cross-Culturally Useful Psychiatric Interview Data : Experience from Brazil

Standardized systems of observing and recording are necessary in order to conduct cross-cultural psychiatric studies. The author presents interview data on the behavior of lower-class psychiatric patients in Rio de Janeiro recorded with the use of a specially designed instrument, the Initial Interview Inventory: Cross-Cultural schedule, and concludes that this inventory possesses a degree of validity in the recording of cross-culturally useful psychiatric interview data.