Screening For Personality Disorders in Outpatient Substance Use Disorder Patients

Abstract

Abstract. The current study evaluates the psychometric properties of both the Standardized Assessment of Personality – Abbreviated Scale (SAPAS) and the Structured Interview for DSM-IV Personality Disorders (SIDP-IV) screener. One hundred two participants were interviewed with the SIDP-IV and the SAPAS. The SIDP-IV was used as the standard to identify PD; the SAPAS and the SIDP-IV screener were compared to the SIDP-IV in terms of sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive power, and overall efficiency. ROC analyses were used to identify ideal cut-off scores. The data showed that both the SAPAS and the SIDP-IV screener had moderate sensitivity and specificity. For the SAPAS, the best cut-off score was 4, yielding a sensitivity of 0.70 and a specificity of 0.63. After modifying the scoring procedures for the SIDP-IV screener, we found a sensitivity of 0.70 and a specificity of 0.75. The results show that the psychometric properties of the SAPAS in a population of treatment-seeking SUD patients are relatively poor compared to previous studies in psychiatric populations. Also, the SAPAS cannot be used to screen for cluster B personality disorders. The SIDP-IV screener shows better results regarding this purpose. Due to the low prevalence of PD in the current study the results should be interpreted with caution.