Measuring Effort in Neuropsychological Evaluations of Forensic Cases of Spanish Speakers

• Published in: Archives of clinical neuropsychology Vol. 27; no. 3; pp. 262 - 267
• Main Authors: BURTON, Vala, VILAR-LOPEZ, Raquel, PUENTE, Antonio E
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Oxford University Press 01.05.2012
• Subjects: Adult; Analysis of Variance; Biological and medical sciences; Demography; Disability Evaluation; Enumeration; Female; Forensic psychiatry; Forensic science; Forensic Sciences - standards; Hispanic Americans; Humans; Male; Malingering - diagnosis; Malingering - psychology; Medical sciences; Memory; Memory Disorders - diagnosis; Memory Disorders - psychology; Middle Aged; Neuropsychological Tests - standards; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychometrics. Diagnostic aid systems; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Reproducibility of Results; Techniques and methods; Young Adult; Social environment; Human; Crosscultural study; Effort; Neuropsychological test; Forensic neuropsychology; Psychometrics; Medicolegal expertise; Symptom validity; Response falsification; Minority; Cross-cultural/minority; Malingering/symptom validity testing; Spanish
• ISSN: 0887-6177; 1873-5843
• DOI: 10.1093/arclin/acs026

Changing demographics indicate a dramatic growth in Spanish speakers in the USA. There is an increasing need to provide valid neuropsychological evaluations to these individuals as well as interest in providing the same in Latin American countries. This is especially the case with symptom validity testing, in general, and those involved with litigation in particular. To address this situation, the Dot Counting Test, the Rey 15-Item Test, and the Test of Memory Malingering were administered to clinical controls as well as individuals involved in litigation-forensic non-capital and forensic capital murder cases. The results represent a first step toward the determination of the utility of those tests to address effort in Spanish speakers in the USA.