A brief and unobtrusive instrument to detect simulation and exaggeration in patients with whiplash syndrome

The objective of this study was to develop and test a brief and unobtrusive instrument to detect exaggeration and simulation in whiplash syndrome. The instrument consists of eight scenarios with ten response options that have to be ordered according to how easy a behavior is to perform. Twenty-five...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inNeuroscience letters Vol. 342; no. 1; pp. 53 - 56
Main Authors Sartori, Giuseppe, Forti, Sara, Birbaumer, Niels, Flor, Herta
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Shannon Elsevier Ireland Ltd 15.05.2003
Elsevier
Subjects
Adult
Assessment
Biological and medical sciences
Case-Control Studies
Discriminant Analysis
Exaggeration
Female
Humans
Male
Malingering
Malingering - diagnosis
Medical sciences
Middle Aged
Nervous system involvement in other diseases. Miscellaneous
Neurology
Pain
Psychological Tests
Simulation
Surveys and Questionnaires
Syndrome
Whiplash
Whiplash Injuries - diagnosis
Whiplash Injuries - psychology
Whiplash
Pain
Simulation
Exaggeration
Malingering
Assessment
Human
Detection
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:The objective of this study was to develop and test a brief and unobtrusive instrument to detect exaggeration and simulation in whiplash syndrome. The instrument consists of eight scenarios with ten response options that have to be ordered according to how easy a behavior is to perform. Twenty-five simulating and 25 non-simulating patients with whiplash syndrome of grades 2 and 3 according to the Quebec Task Force classification as well as 25 simulating and 25 non-simulating controls completed the instrument. In a cross-validation study 20 controls and 20 patients participated. Malingering and exaggeration scores were determined for each subject and patient. The scores were summed up and compared across malingering and exaggerating subjects and controls and cut-off values were determined to classify the patients. T-tests and a discriminant analysis were used to determine classification accuracy. The instrument correctly identified 94% of the simulators and 84% of the exaggerators in both samples. This brief and unobtrusive instrument can detect exaggeration and simulation in whiplash syndrome.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-2
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-1
content type line 23
ISSN:0304-3940
1872-7972
DOI:10.1016/S0304-3940(03)00233-7