Personality assessment screener in a primary care sample of low-income urban women

J Pers Assess. 2012;94(3):262-6. doi: 10.1080/00223891.2011.650304. Epub 2012 Jan 13.

Abstract

The diagnostic efficiency of the Personality Assessment Screener (PAS; Morey, 1997) total score was evaluated using selected scales from the Patient Health Questionnaire (Spitzer, Kroenke, & Williams, 1999), the fourth edition of the Personality Diagnostic Questionnaire (Hyler, 1994), and the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (Saunders, Aasland, Babor, DeLaFuente, & Grant, 1993) as reference standards. Complete data were collected from 110 women seeking treatment at an urban family medicine training clinic. Total PAS scores were effective in identifying patients with mood disorders, cluster B personality disorders, and alcohol use disorders, but the optimum cut scores were higher than the cut score of 19 recommended by Morey (1997). The 10 PAS element scores showed good convergent and discriminant correlations with the reference measures. These findings support the utility of the PAS to screen for major forms of psychopathology in an urban primary care setting.

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Alcohol-Related Disorders / diagnosis*
  • Female
  • Health Status
  • Humans
  • Middle Aged
  • Mood Disorders / diagnosis*
  • Personality Assessment*
  • Personality Disorders / diagnosis*
  • Poverty
  • Primary Health Care
  • Surveys and Questionnaires
  • Urban Population
  • Women