Feigning a Severe Impairment Profile
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
5-1-2013
Department
Psychology
Abstract
The main goal of a severe impairment profile (SIP) on a performance validity test (PVT) is to help reduce the false-positive rate when identifying non-credible effort in people who are truly impaired. A secondary goal is to help with clinical judgment about impairment itself. Although there is adequate specificity for the SIP in severely impaired individuals, a large proportion of simulators can produce an SIP. Given that Social Security Disability (SSD) claimants are typically low functioning and also seeking compensation, it was of interest to know whether the SIP can be used to exclude truly low-functioning claimants, or whether SSD claimants identified as malingering also produce the SIP, as the simulators in a recent study of this profile. By comparing the SSD claimants to a group of low-functioning Child Protection (CP) claimants who were motivated to do well in order to get their children returned from State custody, the findings clearly show that the SIP is easily produced in criterion-malingerers, but not in those low-functioning CP claimants motivated to do well.
Publication Title
Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology
Volume
28
Issue
3
First Page
205
Last Page
212
Recommended Citation
Chafetz, M. D.,
Biondolillo, A.
(2013). Feigning a Severe Impairment Profile. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 28(3), 205-212.
Available at: https://aquila.usm.edu/fac_pubs/7747