Citation

Shura RD, Armistead-Jehle P, Rowland JA, Taber KH, Cooper DB. Psychol. Assess. 2021; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2021, American Psychological Association)

DOI

10.1037/pas0001047

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This study evaluated symptom validity scales from the Neurobehavioral Symptom Inventory (NSI) and mild Brain Injury Atypical Symptom Scale (mBIAS) in a sample of 338 combat veterans. Classification statistics were computed using the Structured Inventory of Malingered Symptomatology (SIMS) as the validity criterion. Symptom distress was assessed with the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Checklist-5. At SIMS > 14, the NSI total score resulted in the highest area under the curve (AUC;.91), followed by Validity-10 (AUC =.88) and mBIAS (AUC =.67). At SIMS > 23, both NSI total and Validity-10 AUCs decreased to.88; in contrast, mBIAS AUC increased to.75. The NSI total score and Validity-10 were interpreted to reflect symptom magnification, whereas the mBIAS may reflect symptom fabrication. There was a subsample with elevated Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) and PTSD Checklist-5 scores who were significantly distressed but not deemed invalid on the NSI; however, there appears to be an upper threshold on the NSI total score (>69) beyond which nobody produced an invalid score on the SIMS. A recommended approach is provided for using NSI-related validity measures. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Language: en