title: Diagnosis of psychopathology with and without an interview.
abstract: This research compared independent ratings of criminal psychopathy (Hare's Psychopathy Checklist, Hare, 1991) from National Parole Board case files alone with ratings based upon file information plus a semi-structured interview. Notwithstanding high interrater reliability using National Parole Board (NPB) case files alone (n = 35), Psychopathy Checklist (PCL-R) scores had to be prorated because 30% of the items could not be scored. Comparisons between file only and independent file plus interview ratings of criminal psychopathy for a larger sample (N = 120) resulted in relatively low interrater reliability. Interrater agreement for ratings of psychopathy with and without an interview was statistically significant (p < .006), yet 40% of the cases received different diagnoses when the different procedures were used. Contrary to earlier findings (Wong, 1988), file only PCL-R ratings were not routinely an underestimate of file plus interview PCL-R ratings.
authors.affiliation: Psychology Department, Joyceville Institution, Kingston, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: R C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Serin
mesh_terms: D000987:Antisocial Personality Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D003417:Criminal Psychology; D006801:Humans; D007406:Interview, Psychological; D015588:Observer Variation; D010552:Personality Assessment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011329:Prisoners / Q000523:psychology*