Purpose: We determine whether self-administration and interviewer administration of the American Urological Association (AUA) symptom index are equivalent.
Materials and methods: 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).
Results: 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).
Conclusions: Although the AUA symptom index should be self-administered when possible, interviewer administration appears to be acceptable.