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Abstract

The Miller-Forensic Assessment of Symptoms Test (M-FAST) was developed to provide clinicians with a reliable and valid screen for malingered mental illness. Previous studies have demonstrated the development and initial validation of the M-FAST. The current analyses extend the M-FAST generalizability across literacy status and race and compare predictive utility with clinical opinion. Study 1 includes a sample of 280 forensic male psychiatric patients, 5 psychiatrists, and 8 psychologists. The psychiatric participants were administered the SIRS, M-FAST item pool, M Test, and MMPI-2. Study 2 includes an independent sample of 50 male forensic psychiatric participants and the 13 mental health professionals. Results provide evidence of generalizability of the M-FAST across literacy and racial groups. Results also indicate that the M-FAST produced higher classification accuracy than the M Test and clinical opinion, significantly reducing the number off alse negatives at the screening stage of malingering assessment.

Keywords

M-FAST malingering test generalizability clinical opinion

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The Miller-Forensic Assessment of Symptoms Test (M-Fast)

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