The association between clinicians' initial judgments of feigning and outcomes on symptom validity measures among pretrial forensic psychiatric inpatients

Wendy Ng; Laurel A Mattos; C Adam Coffey; Stephany M Molina; Emily D Gottfried; David M Glassmire

doi:10.1016/j.ijlp.2021.101698

The association between clinicians' initial judgments of feigning and outcomes on symptom validity measures among pretrial forensic psychiatric inpatients

Int J Law Psychiatry. 2021 May-Jun:76:101698. doi: 10.1016/j.ijlp.2021.101698. Epub 2021 Apr 2.

Authors

Wendy Ng¹, Laurel A Mattos¹, C Adam Coffey¹, Stephany M Molina¹, Emily D Gottfried², David M Glassmire³

Affiliations

¹ Patton State Hospital, Patton, CA, USA.
² Medical University of South Carolina, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Community and Public Safety Psychiatry Division, Charleston, SC, USA.
³ Patton State Hospital, Patton, CA, USA. Electronic address: david.glassmire@dsh.ca.gov.

PMID: 33819780
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijlp.2021.101698

Abstract

Research suggests the use of validated symptom validity tests to detect feigning is imperative to increase accuracy over unaided clinical judgment, especially in forensic settings. This study examined performance on the Miller Forensic Assessment of Symptoms (M-FAST) and Structured Interview of Reported Symptoms (SIRS) during 297 assessments of forensic inpatients. The risk of being identified as feigning on the M-FAST or SIRS was similar for those who were referred for evaluation of feigning compared to those who were not, but individuals with malingering designations prior to the evaluation scored significantly higher than those without on the M-FAST and several SIRS subscales. Findings support the importance of utilizing objective methods of data collection.

Keywords: Clinical judgment; M-FAST; Malingering; Psychiatric feigning; SIRS.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Forensic Medicine
Forensic Psychiatry
Humans
Inpatients*
Judgment*
Malingering / diagnosis
Reproducibility of Results