Reliability of the Karolinska Psychodynamic Profile (KAPP) among patients with and without psychoactive substance abuse disorders.
BACKGROUND
The Karolinska Psychodynamic Profile (KAPP) is a rating instrument, based on psychoanalytic theory, that assesses different aspects of character from clinical interviews. The aim of the present study was to examine interrater reliability of the KAPP in a sample of patients with and without psychoactive substance abuse disorders, using interviewers and a reliability judge who had not been trained by the developers of the instrument.


METHODS
The sample comprised 47 consecutive patients with and without psychoactive substance abuse disorders, who were referred to an outpatient psychotherapy unit specializing in the treatment of substance abuse and dependence. The two interviewers and the reliability judge had not been trained by the developers of the KAPP, and they worked outside the setting where it was constructed.


RESULTS
The intraclass correlations were satisfactory for the total sample (mean 0.84, median 0.89, range 0.62-0.95), as well as for various sub-samples, such as males and females, and patients with and without substance abuse disorders.


CONCLUSIONS
The results show that interviewers and a reliability judge who had not been trained by the developers of the KAPP can attain high interrater reliability in a sample of patients with substance abuse disorders. Some recommendations for conducting KAPP interviews are given.
Weinryb
R M
RM
Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden. robert.weinryb@knv.ki.se
Busch
M
M
Gustavsson
J P
JP
Saxon
L
L
Skarbrandt
E
E
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010552:Personality Assessment / Q000592:standards*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*