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Temporal reliability of personality in psychiatric patients

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

P. Tyrer ,
J. Strauss  and
D. Cicchetti
P. Tyrer*
Affiliation:
Mapperley Hospital, Nottingham, University of Southampton Medical School, and the Veterans Administration Medical Center, West Haven, Connecticut, USA
J. Strauss
Affiliation:
Mapperley Hospital, Nottingham, University of Southampton Medical School, and the Veterans Administration Medical Center, West Haven, Connecticut, USA
D. Cicchetti
Affiliation:
Mapperley Hospital, Nottingham, University of Southampton Medical School, and the Veterans Administration Medical Center, West Haven, Connecticut, USA
*
1Address for correspondence: Dr P. Tyrer, Mapperley Hospital Porchester Road, Nottingham NG3 6AA.
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Synopsis

The Personality Assessment Schedule, an interview schedule specifically designed for assessing personality disorder, was administered twice to 28 psychiatric patients, with a mean interval of 2·9 years between each assessment. The first assessment was made by a psychiatrist and the second by a medical student who had no prior knowledge of the patients. The reliability of the 2 assessments was measured using 4 different techniques. Although the reliability of individual personality traits was inconsistent over time, the categorical diagnosis of personality disorder was good (Kωw = 0·64), giving some support to the validity of the schedule. Reasons for discordance in the assessments were examined and appeared to be due mainly to confusion between clinical symptoms and personality traits, retrospective errors in recording past personality in chronic patients, and special difficulties in determining the primary abnormality in severe personality disorder.

Type
Research Article
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 13 , Issue 2 , May 1983 , pp. 393 - 398
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1983

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