Assessing psychopathy in forensic schizophrenia spectrum disorders: Validating the Comprehensive Assessment of the Psychopathic Personality-Institutional Rating Scale (CAPP-IRS)

Psychiatry Res. 2018 Jul:265:303-308. doi: 10.1016/j.psychres.2018.05.019. Epub 2018 May 16.

Abstract

The assessment of psychopathy in (forensic) schizophrenia spectrum disorders is long-standing debate. In the present study, we investigated the psychometric properties of the Comprehensive Assessment of Psychopathic Personality-Institutional Rating Scale (CAPP-IRS) in a sample of 72 male forensic patients with a primary diagnosis of schizophrenia spectrum disorders. We compared the CAPP-IRS' psychometric properties to those of the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R). The CAPP-IRS showed good interrater reliability and internal consistency except for the CAPP-IRS Cognition and Emotional Domains. There appears to be a larger but intelligible overlap between the CAPP-IRS and schizophrenia symptoms than between the PCL-R and schizophrenia symptoms. Inversely, the PCL-R showed overall stronger associations with risk assessment measures. We conclude that, in (forensic) schizophrenia disorder spectrum patients, the CAPP-IRS has closer associations with clinical features, while the PCL-R is better a predicting risk and life-time dimensions.

Keywords: CAPP; CAPP-IRS; PCL-R; Psychopathy; Risk assessment; Schizophrenia.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Antisocial Personality Disorder / complications
  • Antisocial Personality Disorder / diagnosis*
  • Antisocial Personality Disorder / psychology*
  • Checklist / methods
  • Forensic Psychology / methods
  • Forensic Psychology / standards*
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Neuropsychological Tests / standards
  • Personality Assessment / standards*
  • Psychometrics / methods
  • Psychotic Disorders / complications
  • Psychotic Disorders / diagnosis*
  • Psychotic Disorders / psychology*
  • Reproducibility of Results