A correction procedure for the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 for persons with spinal cord injury

Area of Science:

• Psychological assessment
• Rehabilitation psychology

Background:

• The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) is widely used but may yield skewed interpretations in spinal cord injury (SCI) populations due to somatic complaints.
• Existing scoring procedures may not adequately address the unique challenges faced by individuals with SCI.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a new MMPI-2 scoring procedure specifically adjusted for SCI patients.
• To compare the accuracy of this new procedure against standard MMPI-2 scoring and a previously proposed method.

Main Methods:

• A criterion study involving 34 SCI patients (19 complete, 15 incomplete) in a physical medicine and rehabilitation unit.
• Masked MMPI-2 profiles were evaluated by clinicians (nurses, physicians, psychologists) for accuracy.
• Paired t-tests were used to compare differences between scoring procedures on MMPI-2 scales.

Main Results:

• A novel correction procedure for the MMPI-2 and MMPI-A was developed, incorporating adjustments for SCI-related physical complaints.
• This new procedure was found to be superior to both standard MMPI-2 scoring and a prior method.
• Statistically significant differences (p < .0001) were observed across many MMPI-2 scales when using the new scoring procedure.

Conclusions:

• Adjusting MMPI-2 profiles for somatic complaints associated with SCI leads to statistically significant changes.
• Preliminary findings indicate that the new correction procedure enhances clinical accuracy for interpreting MMPI-2 results in SCI patients.