title: The vulnerability to coaching across measures of effort.
abstract: Neuropsychologists are increasingly called upon to conduct evaluations with individuals involved in personal injury litigation. While the inclusion of measures of effort within a test battery may help clinicians determine whether a client has put forth full effort, attorney coaching may allow dishonest clients to circumvent these efforts. The purpose of this study was to determine the degree to which frequently used measures of effort are susceptible to coaching, as well as to explore and classify strategies undertaken by coached malingering simulators. Overall, coached simulators performed significantly better on 7 of 14 measured variables. Potential improvements in the external validity of the simulation design were also explored.
authors.affiliation: Louisiana State University, New Orleans, LA 70118, USA. abren1@lsuhsc.edu
authors.forename: Adrianne M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Brennan
authors.forename: Stephen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Meyer
authors.forename: Emily
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: David
authors.forename: Russell
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pella
authors.forename: Ben D
authors.initials: BD
authors.lastname: Hill
authors.forename: Wm Drew
authors.initials: WD
authors.lastname: Gouvier
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D005260:Female; D005555:Forensic Psychiatry; D006801:Humans; D007361:Intelligence Tests; D008297:Male; D008306:Malingering / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology*; D008570:Memory, Short-Term; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010552:Personality Assessment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D014706:Verbal Learning; D055815:Young Adult