Screening for malingering in a forensic population using a SIRS short form

Abstract

Poor predictive validity and questionable clinical utility of a currently available screening measure for malingering indicates a need for an accurate screening test. This study outlines the development of the Screening SIRS, a short form of the Structured Interview of Reported Symptoms (SIRS), for use as a screening measure for malingering within a forensic population. Fifty-nine (59) imnates complaining of psychological impairment were tested for malingering. A subset was given both the original SIRS and the Screening SIRS as a separate test, while the remainder were given the full SIRS and a short form classification was determined by extracting the appropriate scale scores (derived SIRS). Classification based on the derived SIRS was extremely accurate, with sensitivity of 1.0 and specificity of .92; classification based on the Screening SIRS was significantly better than chance and an improvement over screening measures identified in the literature, with sensitivity of .82 and specificity of .65. These findings indicate that the Screening SIRS shows promise as a malingering screening measure for use in criminal populations.