The personality organization diagnostic form: development of a revised version

Area of Science:

• Psychiatry
• Psychology
• Psychometrics

Background:

• Otto Kernberg's model of Personality Organizations (PO) is a significant framework for understanding personality structure.
• Assessing PO requires reliable and valid measurement tools for clinical and research purposes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the interrater reliability, validity, and internal consistency of a revised Personality Organization Diagnostic Form (PODF).
• To confirm the psychometric properties of the PODF in assessing Kernberg's PO model.

Main Methods:

• The study involved scoring the revised PODF and conducting factor analysis.
• Interrater reliability, internal consistency, and convergent validity with clinical evaluations and psychiatric severity were assessed.

Main Results:

• The revised PODF achieved good to excellent interrater reliability for personality dimensions and global PO (GPO) scores.
• Factor analysis supported Kernberg's model, identifying a borderline-neurotic continuum and a psychotic factor.
• Internal consistency and convergent validity with clinical and psychiatric measures were moderate to good.

Conclusions:

• The revised PODF exhibits sound psychometric properties, surpassing its predecessor.
• The validated PODF is a valuable instrument for both clinical practice and research in personality organization.