As the interview is designed for epidemiological studies, it can be administered by those who are not clinically trained and can be completed in a short amount of time.
Versions of the CIDI were used in two important studies, the National Comorbidity Survey (NCS)[1] and National Comorbidity Survey Replication (NCS-R)[2] which are often used as a reference for estimates of the rates of psychiatric illness in the USA.
The first version of the CIDI was published in 1988,[3] and has been periodically updated to reflect the changing diagnostic criteria of DSM and ICD.
The Composite International Diagnostic Interview – Short Form (CIDI-SF) was first published by Ronald C. Kessler and colleagues in 1998,[4] and the PhenX Toolkit uses this as its adult protocol for general psychiatric assessment.
[6] According to a 2007 memo by Kessler, this decision was based on decreased need for the CIDI-SF following the introduction of other short interviews (specifically, PRIME-MD and MINI) and a lack of funding to refine the instrument.