Recording of dissimulation and denial in the context of the psychosomatic evaluation at living kidney transplantation using the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI).

Content Provider	Europe PMC
Author	Wutzler, Uwe Venner, Margit Villmann, Thomas Decker, Oliver Ott, Undine Steiner, Thomas Gumz, Antje
Copyright Year	2009
Abstract	Objective: Living organ donation involves interference with a healthy organism. Therefore, most transplantation centres ascertain the voluntariness of the donation as well as its motivation by means of a psychosomatic evaluation. The circumstance that the evaluation is compulsory and not a primary concern of the donor-recipient pair may occasion respondents to present only what they consider innocuous and socially adequate. Thus, the information value of the results can be considerably affected. Methods: In the context of a psychosomatic evaluation prior to living kidney transplantation, 71 donor-recipient pairs were screened at the transplantation centre of Friedrich Schiller University, Jena. Using the validity scales of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) (“infrequency” (F), “lie” (L) and “correction-scales” (K)) and the Dissimulation Index according to Gough (“F-K”), we tried to find traits of dissimulation and denial. Results: About 50% of the participants showed an infrequency raw score of zero. This means that at least half of the sample is apprehensive which may cause a cautious and controlled attitude towards the examination. The K-value (T≥59) and the Dissimulation Index (F-K≤–15) indicated dissimulation in 29% and 26% of the overall sample. Moreover, it affects the score of 11 respondents (8%) so profoundly that any significance regarding the personality traits is lost. Conclusion: In the setup of the examination situation as well as in the interpretation of test-psychological findings, the occurrence and possible influence of dissimulation should be considered. The validity scale of the MMPI can help to obtain an objective clinical impression of dissimulation in problem cases.
Related Links	https://europepmc.org/backend/ptpmcrender.fcgi?accid=PMC2775195&blobtype=pdf
Volume Number	6
DOI	10.3205/psm000060
PubMed Central reference number	PMC2775195
PubMed reference number	19911073
Journal	GMS Psycho-Social-Medicine [Psychosoc Med]
e-ISSN	18605214
Language	English
Publisher	German Medical Science GMS Publishing House
Publisher Date	2009-10-13
Access Restriction	Open
Rights License	This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/deed.en). You are free to copy, distribute and transmit the work, provided the original author and source are credited. Copyright © 2009 Wutzler et al.
Subject Keyword	validity scales dissimulation denial psychosomatic evaluation living-kidney transplantation Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) response set
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Social Psychology