Interrater Reliability of Psychopathy Checklist–Revised: Results on Multiple Analysis Levels for a Sample of Patients Undergoing Forensic Psychiatric Evaluation

Scores from the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) are used to support decisions regarding personal liberty. In our study, performed in an applied forensic psychiatric setting, intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) for absolute agreement, single rater (ICCA1) were .89 for the total score, .82...

Full description

Saved in:  
Bibliographic Details
Authors: Dåderman, Anna M. (Author) ; Hellström, Åke (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Published: [2018]
In: Criminal justice and behavior
Year: 2018, Volume: 45, Issue: 2, Pages: 234-263
Online Access: Volltext (Resolving-System)
Journals Online & Print:
Drawer...
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
Keywords:
Description
Summary:Scores from the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) are used to support decisions regarding personal liberty. In our study, performed in an applied forensic psychiatric setting, intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) for absolute agreement, single rater (ICCA1) were .89 for the total score, .82 for Factor 1, .88 for Factor 2, and .78 to .86 for the four facets. These results stand in contrast to lower reliabilities found in a majority of field studies. Disagreement among raters made a low contribution (0%-5%) to variability of scores on the total score, factor, and facet level. For individual items, ICCA1 varied from .38 to .94, with >.80 for seven of the 20 items. Items 17 (“Many short-term marital relationships”) and 19 (“Revocation of conditional release”) showed very low reliabilities (.38 and .43, respectively). The importance of knowledge about factors that can affect scoring of forensic instruments (e.g., education, training, experience, motivation, raters’ personality, and quality of file data) is emphasized.
ISSN:1552-3594
DOI:10.1177/0093854817747647