In litigating patients, the data on embedded symptom validity indices do not support their use at the exclusion of free standing SVTs

On page 487 of the Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology conference abstracts (vol 24, issue 5, August, 2009), there is a study of the relative sensitivity and specificity of embedded effort measures versus stand alone SVTs like the TOMM, Rey-15, VSVT and WMT. The authors are Miele, Lynch and McCaffrey (2009).

Conclusion: In litigating patients, the data on embedded symptom validity indices do not support their use at the exclusion of free standing SVTs.

William A. Lindstrom, Jr., Jennifer H. Lindstrom, Chris Coleman, Jason Nelson & Noel Gregg. The Diagnostic Accuracy of Symptom Validity Tests when Used with Postsecondary Students with Learning Disabilities: A Preliminary Investigation.

Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology in press but available online (October 2009)

Conclusion: This independent study shows that the WMT is more sensitive to poor effort than the TOMM in people asked to simulate impairment.

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