Little is known about the performance of clinician-administered structured diagnostic interviews when given under variable levels of examiner training and monitoring. We sought to explore this question. We examined the performance of a self-report questionnaire and a structured clinical interview in the assessment of Post-traumatic Stress DisorderPost-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)A complex psychiatric syndrome that develops in response to trauma exposure. Individuals with PTSD experience intrusive recollections or reexperiencing of the traumatic event, avoidance of trauma reminders, emotional numbing, and hyperarousal. In addition, PTSD is associated with high rates of concomitant physical and mental health problems, increased health care use, and impairment in social and occupational functioning. Almost 7% of the general population and up to 30% of veterans meet lifetime criteria for PTSD. Indeed, PTSD is one of the most common psychiatric disorders, representing a significant and costly public health concern. in two community samples of war veterans. One sample was interviewed under standard conditions (N = 372) and the other under unknown and less standardized conditions (N = 420), more closely approximating 'field conditions'. Interview results were used to predict questionnaire-based PTSDPost-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)A complex psychiatric syndrome that develops in response to trauma exposure. Individuals with PTSD experience intrusive recollections or reexperiencing of the traumatic event, avoidance of trauma reminders, emotional numbing, and hyperarousal. In addition, PTSD is associated with high rates of concomitant physical and mental health problems, increased health care use, and impairment in social and occupational functioning. Almost 7% of the general population and up to 30% of veterans meet lifetime criteria for PTSD. Indeed, PTSD is one of the most common psychiatric disorders, representing a significant and costly public health concern. status. Kappas, sensitivities, specificities, and positive predictive powers were moderate and of similar magnitude in both samples. Our results suggest that even under uncertain ('field') conditions, clinician-administered structured interviews can produce results comparable to those produced under more tightly controlled conditions.