Analog validation of German-language symptom validity tests and the influence of coaching

Although symptom validity testing is an integral part of the repertory of neuropsychologists in a number of countries, this is not yet true for Germany. The German adaptations of two effort tests, the Medical Symptom Validity Test (MSVT) by Green and the Amsterdam Short-Term Memory Test (ASTM) by Sc...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Archives of clinical neuropsychology 2005-08, Vol.20 (6), p.719-726
Main Authors: Merten, Thomas, Green, Paul, Henry, Matthias, Blaskewitz, Nina, Brockhaus, Robbi
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Biological and medical sciences
Female
Germany
Humans
Language
Male
Malingering
Malingering - diagnosis
Malingering - psychology
Medical sciences
Memory
Negative response bias
Neuropsychological assessment
Neuropsychological Tests
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychometrics. Diagnostic aid systems
Psychopathology. Psychiatry
Reaction Time - physiology
Reference Values
Reproducibility of Results
Sensitivity and Specificity
Symptom validity testing
Techniques and methods
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Although symptom validity testing is an integral part of the repertory of neuropsychologists in a number of countries, this is not yet true for Germany. The German adaptations of two effort tests, the Medical Symptom Validity Test (MSVT) by Green and the Amsterdam Short-Term Memory Test (ASTM) by Schmand et al., were investigated with a German-language sample. An analog study was performed with 18 healthy experimental malingerers and 18 controls with a mean age of 25.4 years. The scenario contained detailed information about mild post-traumatic cognitive impairment, as well as an explicit warning against symptom exaggeration. In addition to MSVT and ASTM, the Trail Making Test (TMT), the Complex Figure Test (CFT), and Digit Span were performed. Half of the sample were also given Rey's 15-Item-Test (FIT). Both groups were significantly different in all effort and performance measures, with the exception of the ratio TMT-B:TMT-A. With MSVT and ASTM, correct classification of group membership was between 97 and 100%. For the ratio TMT-B:TMT-A, there was a considerable overlap in the test scores for the two groups and the sensitivity of the FIT was too low. Although the ASTM and the MSVT were identified by a number of subjects as possible effort measures, both tests obtained very good results within this analog design.
ISSN:0887-6177
1873-5843
DOI:10.1016/j.acn.2005.04.004