The concurrent validity of a Web-based self-report assessment for personality disorders

Area of Science:

• Psychiatry
• Clinical Psychology
• Digital Health

Background:

• Online tools can enhance personality disorder assessments in clinical practice.
• TeleScreen is a web-based self-report questionnaire for DSM-IV disorders.
• Its validity against structured interviews for personality and clinical disorders requires investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the concurrent validity of the TeleScreen questionnaire.
• To compare TeleScreen with the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (SCID-I and SCID-II).
• To assess TeleScreen's accuracy for specific personality disorders and clinical disorders.

Main Methods:

• 89 patients with personality disorders were assessed using TeleScreen.
• Participants underwent independent interviews with SCID-I and SCID-II.
• Concurrent validity was determined using sensitivity, specificity, and predictive values.

Main Results:

• TeleScreen demonstrated moderate to good validity for borderline and obsessive-compulsive personality disorders.
• Suboptimal validity was found for dependent, avoidant, and paranoid personality disorders.
• Moderate to good validity was observed for most clinical disorders, excluding social phobia, dysthymia, and eating disorders.

Conclusions:

• TeleScreen shows preliminary concurrent validity for certain personality disorders, notably borderline personality disorder.
• The findings support TeleScreen's potential utility for specific diagnostic applications.
• Larger studies are recommended to validate these results and explore broader clinical applications.