The instrument was designed to be administered by a mental health professional, for example a psychologist or psychiatrist. This must be someone who has relevant professional training and has had experience performing unstructured, open-ended question, diagnostic evaluations. However, for the purposes of some research studies, non-clinician research assistants, who have extensive experience with the study population in question, and who have demonstrated competence, have been trained to use the SCID. The less clinical experience and specific education the potential interviewer has had, the more training is required.