title: A cross-validation Delphi method approach to the diagnosis and treatment of personality disorders in older adults.
abstract: The Delphi method is a consensus-building technique using expert opinion to formulate a shared framework for understanding a topic with limited empirical support. This cross-validation study replicates one completed in the Netherlands and Belgium, and explores US experts' views on the diagnosis and treatment of older adults with personality disorders (PD).
  
  
  
  Twenty-one geriatric PD experts participated in a Delphi survey addressing diagnosis and treatment of older adults with PD. The European survey was translated and administered electronically.
  
  
  
  First-round consensus was reached for 16 out of 18 items relevant to diagnosis and specific mental health programs for personality disorders in older adults. Experts agreed on the usefulness of establishing criteria for specific types of treatments. The majority of psychologists did not initially agree on the usefulness of pharmacotherapy. Expert consensus was reached following two subsequent rounds after clarification addressing medication use.
  
  
  
  Study results suggest consensus among regarding psychosocial treatments. Limited acceptance amongst US psychologists about the suitability of pharmacotherapy for late-life PDs contrasted with the views expressed by experts surveyed in Netherlands and Belgium studies.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Clinical Psychology , William James College , Newton , MA , USA.|b Department of Psychiatry , Harvard Medical School , Boston , MA , USA.
authors.forename: Erlene
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Rosowsky
authors.affiliation: c Mountain Valley Treatment Center , Pike , NH , USA.
authors.forename: Alexander S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Young
authors.affiliation: d University of Massachusetts , Boston , MA , USA.
authors.forename: Mary C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Malloy
authors.affiliation: e Mondriaan Hospital , Heerlen-Maastricht , The Netherlands.|f Department of Clinical and Life Span Psychology , Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) , Brussels , Belgium.
authors.forename: S P J
authors.initials: SPJ
authors.lastname: van Alphen
authors.affiliation: g McLean Hospital , Belmont , MA , USA.|h Department of Family and Community Medicine , Swank Memory Care Center, Christiana Care Health System , Wilmington , DE , USA.
authors.forename: James M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Ellison
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D032921:Consensus; D003697:Delphi Technique; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010554:Personality Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy*
keywords: Delphi method; cross-validation study; older adults; personality disorders