The American Urological Association symptom index: does mode of administration affect its psychometric properties?

Abstract

We determine whether self-administration and interviewer administration of the American Urological Association (AUA) symptom index are equivalent. The AUA symptom index was administered twice to 41 visually impaired or illiterate men. Men who were able were randomized to self-administration first and then interviewer administration (43) or the reverse (40). The scores in each group were reliable. However, because we could not reject a differential carryover effect, the nonsignificant test of mode effect in the crossover design may have been invalid. At time 1 there was no significant difference between group mean scores for randomized patients (p = 0.13). Although the AUA symptom index should be self-administered when possible, interviewer administration appears to be acceptable.