Impact of Coaching on Malingered Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms on the M-FAST and the TSI

Of the existing posttraumatic stress disorder dissimulation studies, relatively few have employed a coaching challenge using the Miller Forensic Assessment of Symptoms Test and/or Trauma Symptom Inventory. The current investigation employed a coaching procedure that included both symptom specific information and strategies for avoiding detection on psychological validity scales. Participants were 68 undergraduate psychology students from a major mid-Atlantic university. Participants in the control groups were instructed to answer all interview and self-report items honestly. Those who were instructed to malinger were provided with a scenario in which they were to feign psychological trauma symptoms in order to secure financial gain through civil litigation. Unlike previous research, those who were provided with symptoms and/or symptoms and strategies were found to be no more successful at malingering PTSD than were those who were not provided with this information. While only two-thirds of the simulators were detected as malingering using the M-FAST total score or TSI validity scales, nearly 90% were identified when these measures were utilized together.